ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte has insisted that president Jacob Zuma will not step down in 2018, an interview with City Press.<\/p>\n
Duarte told the paper that the ruling party is targeting 2% economic growth, with job creation the primary focus.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think a partnership with business is vital,\u201d she told City Press.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere seems to be a new mood of hope and a new mood of \u2018yes we can and yes we will\u2019. We are hoping that this will be sustained and will continue to grow.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) revised South Africa\u2019s economic growth forecast downward in 2018 and 2019 as a result of rising political uncertainty which it says weighs on confidence and investment.<\/p>\n
It projects the country\u2019s economy to grow by 0.9% over the next two years, down from a projection of 1.1% in 2018 it forecast in October, and 1.6% in 2019.<\/p>\n
Duarte dismissed talk of a pending shake-up in government and also distanced the ANC from comments made by new ANC president, Cyril Ramaphosa<\/a> that Zuma was \u201canxious\u201d about his future.<\/p>\n Her comments come after weeks of speculation that Zuma will step down imminently, following the positive effects of Ramaphosa leading the country\u2019s ruling party. Ramaphosa is expected to adopt more business-friendly policies.<\/p>\n Duarte was critical of analysts blaming Zuma for the state of the economy.<\/p>\n \u201cThe economy is not an island economy. [Our] primary income is from commodities [and when] those commodity markets shrink, we shrink.<\/p>\n “Yet your analysts make that president Zuma\u2019s problem. You don\u2019t talk about that fact that mining companies are closing shafts and, as a consequence, there is a domino effect of jobs being lost,” Duarte said.<\/p>\n
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