The battle for the leadership of the African National Congress (ANC) at its December conference in Polokwane should convince foreign investors that the country’s democracy is solid, said ANC president Jacob Zuma on Thursday.
Zuma told the Durban Chamber of Commerce’s 152nd anniversary dinner: ”Polokwane should convince even the most sceptical of investors that this new democracy was founded on sound principles.”
He said the fact that the person heading the ANC is not leading the country is not in itself a controversial issue.
”A lot of interest arises from the fact that the president of the ANC and that of the republic are two different people. However, this is nothing new, as it happened with Madiba and comrade Thabo Mbeki.
”What is new is that there was a leadership contestation this time round, which was a healthy, normal and robust democratic process.”
Zuma said the contest for the leadership ”indicated the durability of our democracy and the depth of democratic values among our people”.
Referring to the ongoing power crisis, he said: ”There is no doubt that electricity investment should have been made earlier than it was. But the investment into our energy capacity is being made, and that is what is important now.
”We should make the crisis a positive turning point and the beginning of using electricity in an efficient manner that does not harm the environment.”
Zuma urged businesses to work closely with the Congress of South African Trade Unions to prevent job losses caused by the power crisis.
He repeated his appeal for all the parties in Zimbabwe to accept the election outcome.
”I think we should urge and plead with our brothers and sisters to solve the problem before it is plunged into a more serious crisis,” he said, adding that he had never heard of an electoral commission that ”just sits on the results”.
He also urged South African political parties, especially those in KwaZulu-Natal, to keep the peace in the 2009 national election.
”KwaZulu-Natal should never, ever revert to the levels of violence, pain, tension and displacement that we have seen before in this province,” Zuma said. — Sapa