BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa — President Jacob Zuma sought to dispel the concerns of rating agencies and investors about sluggish growth in South Africa on Sunday and insisted the country was not “falling apart”. In his opening address to a conference of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) to choose its leadership for the next five years, Zuma said two downgrades by international ratings agencies this year did not mean South Africa was in trouble. “We want to dismiss the perceptions that our country is falling apart because of the downgrades,” he said. “We continue to do our development work, we continue to plan for a recovery.” At the conference held in the central city of Bloemfontein and running through Thursday, Zuma, 70, is expected to garner enough support to head off a challenge to his party chief post from Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe. Retaining the ANC leadership puts Zuma in pole position to secure a second five-year term as South Africa's president in the next national election in 2014. Spicing up the contest for top ANC jobs, former mineworkers' leader and anti-apartheid hero Cyr il Ramaphosa, now one of South Africa's richest men, has agreed to stand for the post of ANC deputy president currently held by Motlanthe. “He (Ramaphosa) is running,” a senior party official told Reuters on Sunday. Motlanthe will be angling to retain the job if he fails to win the leadership, and there are likely to be at least two other candidates. Zuma said in his speech that the government was relying on its long-term National Development Plan for undoing the “glaring and deep” inequalities left by white-minority apartheid rule, which ended in 1994. The census reported this year the income of white households is six times higher than that of blacks. “Today, the ratings agencies and investors are asking whether the ANC can continue to manage this economy so that we can grow, create jobs, manage our debt and provide policy certainty,” Zuma said. “Yes, the ANC will continue to provide strong economic leadership and steer our economy boldly.” South Africa's economy is forecast to grow 2.5 percent this year, well short of the 7 percent the government says is needed to make a serious dent in 25 percent unemployment. — Reuters
