Former AU Commission Chair Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma attends the conference in Johannesburg, South Africa, Dec. 16, 2017. The 54th national congress of South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) began on Saturday in Johannesburg with a call for unity. The conference is expected to elect the party president, chairperson, secretary general and other party leaders. (Xinhua/David Naicker)
JOHANNESBURG, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- The 54th national congress of South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) began on Saturday in Johannesburg with a call for unity.
The conference is expected to elect the party president, chairperson, secretary general and other party leaders.
Deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa and former AU Commission chair Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma are vying to succeed Jacob Zuma as the ANC leader and become the party's candidate for the 2019 presidential polls.
Addressing the conference, Zuma called for party unity while acknowledging the public 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 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 said.
"We must tread carefully but act, because of the serious economic challenges facing our country currently," he said.
The ANC leader also said their research have revealed that people are not happy about corruption, crime an unemployment in South Africa.
"Let me emphasize that we need to find ways of protecting the ANC from corporate greed and ensure that the decisions we take are informed by the policies of the ANC and are not dictated to by business interests."
The corporate should not influence the election of the party leaders, Zuma said, while expressing concerns about fractional fights, gate keeping and vote buying in the party.
