Zuma rejects call for lifestyle audits

President Jacob Zuma has again appealed for unity among the ruling alliance. Picture: REUTERS/James Oatway

President Jacob Zuma has again appealed for unity among the ruling alliance. Picture: REUTERS/James Oatway

Published Jan 23, 2017

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Durban – President Jacob Zuma has again appealed for unity among the ruling alliance while lashing out at those who called for the implementation of lifestyle audits in the top echelons of the ANC.

Zuma said those leaders must “behave properly” as the movement had pulled out all the stops to fight corruption, which he said was “not a problem brought by us”.

The president also highlighted the importance of the coming elective conference, where he is expected to step down as ANC leader in December, saying members should elect leaders with a proven track record and capable of unifying the divided movement.

Zuma made the remarks during his keynote address at the ANC’s provincial rally at Burgersfort in Limpopo on Sunday.

He called on ANC members not to pay lip service to this year’s party slogan of “Unity in Action”.

The leadership, he said, had been told by the masses that they were busy fighting each other and neglecting their issues in the process. The ANC existed to serve the people, “not ourselves”.

On Sunday Zuma appealed to those calling for lifestyle audits to “behave properly”, conduct themselves in an orderly manner. He asked them to focus on the ANC tasks at hand, not on themselves.

He said the ANC-led government had put many programmes in place to help root out crime and corruption and promote good ethics throughout the public sector.

“It is the ANC that waged the war, together with the alliance, to fight corruption in South Africa. It has also gone further to establish institutions in government and it has arrested those who are corrupt. It is the only organisation and its government that has fought corruption,” he said.

It was unfortunate that people were accepting the narrative that the ANC was a corrupt organisation. “No, the statistics will tell you that we’ve fought corruption. We’ve even dealt with our own members. There’s no (other) party that has done so. Let us correct the narrative on this issue in the manner in which we deal with corruption.”

Zuma said the coming national elective conference would provide the ruling party with the opportunity to renew itself.

“We must be prepared to choose leaders who have demonstrated the desire to serve our people. The issue of electing a national leadership is serious business,” he said.

“The time for (nominating) names has not come. I know, however, that people are already lobbying for their preferred candidates. It’s not yet the time. First, let’s discuss our programmes and policies before choosing who must lead,” said Zuma.

Political Bureau

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