African National Congress (ANC) 54th National Conference Opens in Johannesburg

Описание: The 54th national conference of South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) opened on Saturday in Johannesburg with a call for unity.

The conference is expected to elect the president, chairperson, secretary general and other leaders for the ANC.

Seven candidates are seeking to succeed Jacob Zuma, who has been at the helm of the party for a decade.

Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and former African Union (AU) Commission chair Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma are the top contenders vying for the ANC's top post and will later become the party's candidate for the 2019 presidential polls.

Addressing the conference, Zuma called for party unity while acknowledging the public's discontent with the state of the ruling party and the country.

Zuma said the less-than-expected performance of the ANC in the 2016 municipal elections show that people are not happy with the party.

He noted that the economy is fragile and underlined the need to fight poverty, inequality and unemployment.

Improved policy implementation which will be the key focus on this conference will improve employment and investment outcome, Zuma stressed.

He called for prudent efforts "because of the serious economic challenges facing our country currently."

Zuma said ways must be found to protect the ANC from corporate greed and ensure that decisions are informed by the policies of the ANC and are not dictated to by business interests.

"We must build a resilient ANC that can withstand such undue pressure and enable the ANC to conduct its organizational work freely," he said

Tokyo Sexwale, a South African political analyst, said the conference is not only about choosing a party leader, but also about coming up with measures to address all the challenges facing the nation.

"It's about thinking it's beyond the 4,000 people here, it's about 50 million people, particularly the children. So it's about coming and strengthening the policies of making sure that poverty is eradicated, inequality are addressed, health and education - all this time the administration knows these issues, but everybody should understand that this conference should be about. Any other thing is a game," he said.

Mcebisi Ndltyana, a journalist, said the ANC should make certain changes to win back support from the people.

"The ANC needs a break with the past. Over the last 10 years, they have lost about 15 percent of their support, from 69 percent in 2004 to 54 percent last year. So it shows that ANC politics, is not working," he said.

The ANC leadership election result is expected to occur on Sunday.

The conference is scheduled to conclude on Wednesday.
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