'Radical economic transformation an ANC resolution'
African National Congress (ANC) treasurer general Zweli Mkhize says the focus of the party's upcoming national conference must be radical economic transformation.
Mkhize was speaking on the opening day of the Gauteng provincial general council.
The province is expected to announce its preferred candidate to succeed President Jacob Zuma at this month's national conference.
Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to get the nod.
Mkhize said radical economic transformation is not the brainchild of a faction of the ANC, but a resolution taken at a conference.
"We need to be unequivocal that this was a decision of our conference taken after a long deliberation, where we said to ourselves having looked at the past twenty years, we need to embark on a much more radical phase of what we call the second phase of the transition which must focus on the improvement, or radical transformation, of the economy.
"We need to solve the problem of the exclusion of our people from the economy which is administered under the government which is democratically elected by the majority. We need to make the issues clear and separate, that when we talk of radical economic transformation we talking about a programme that must benefit the majority of South Africans."
Mkhize said many people have already begun writing the ANC's obituary and that it is up to the delegates to prove them wrong.
"This ANC is going to emerge stronger and more united. This ANC will emerge with resolutions that are going to be able to face up to the challenges that South Africans are experiencing.