![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/ANC-e1512711286929.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\n
Cyril Ramaphosa, one of two leading candidates to win a divisive contest for the presidency of South Africa\u2019s ruling African National Congress, said the party\u2019s leaders must unite the party after this month\u2019s elective conference.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur movement is divided and there are factions in our movement,\u201d Ramaphosa, the country\u2019s deputy president, said in a Thursday night program on Johannesburg-based radio station 702.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe challenge that we face, particularly going into this conference, is how we are going to unite the ANC and how we will emerge out of this conference united.\u201d<\/p>\n
The winner that emerges from the Dec. 16-20 conference to pick a successor to President Jacob Zuma as the party\u2019s head will be its presidential candidate in the 2019 elections that are set to be the toughest since Nelson Mandela led the party to power at the end of apartheid in 1994.<\/p>\n
The election has caused deep rifts within the 105-year-old ANC, weighed on the rand and nation\u2019s bonds and unnerved investors seeking political and policy clarity.<\/p>\n
Ramaphosa\u2019s strongest rival for the position is Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, a former chairwoman of the African Union Commission and Zuma\u2019s ex-wife. Ramaphosa didn\u2019t give an explicit answer during Thursday\u2019s broadcast when asked whether he would, if defeated in the leadership contest, accept the position of Dlamini-Zuma\u2019s deputy.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf, for instance I am not successful to become president, I will have to reflect on whether I should be deployed elsewhere or deployed in the same position,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, it is going to be a matter in which I am going to want to reflect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ramaphosa said the South African economy could grow at a faster pace and that the government had been diverted by self interest and state capture, a local term for the undue influence over the state by business.<\/p>\n
The ANC should never allow its policy to be up for sale and he wouldn\u2019t \u201csell his soul for any interest,\u201d Ramaphosa said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe that our economy is not a one- or two-percent growth economy; I believe it can grow at four percent and we can revitalize our economy if we do the right things,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have realized that corruption is rife and we are going to address it. We are going to root out corruption and that is a promise I can make.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former South African finance ministers Nhlanhla Nene and Pravin Gordhan should return to the government, Ramaphosa said. Zuma\u2019s dismissal in March of Gordhan caused the nation to lose its investment-grade status with two ratings companies for the first time in 17 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would want all those people back in government service, because they have an unbelievable role to play in helping us develop. Many of those who were just tossed out, were tossed out for reasons other than their lack of competence,\u201d Ramaphosa said.<\/p>\n
He has won endorsement from more ANC branches than Dlamini-Zuma, giving him an edge in this month\u2019s election. Ramaphosa was nominated for the presidency of the ANC by 1,860 branches, while 1,330 backed his main rival. The branches will account for 90% of the 5,240 voting delegates at the conference.<\/p>\n