A major four-day policy conference of South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) party opened with an appeal for unity from South African President Thabo Mbeki amid growing social unrest and a split within the party over who will be its next leader, according to dpa. The think-in, which takes place every five years, risks being dominated by a row over whether Mbeki should stand again for a third term as party president in December. Leftist factions within the party support populist ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma over the pro-business Mbeki or businessman Tokyo Sexwale. Addressing the opening of the conference Mbeki ridiculed talk of a leadership showdown at the conference as "propaganda" and downplayed tensions within the ruling tripartite alliance. A rift has emerged in the alliance of the ANC, the South African Communist Party and the Confederation of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) over the liberal slant of the government's economic policy. "All of us may perish, but the alliance will live forever," a confident Mbeki predicted, while emphatically ruling out any shift towards socialism within the ANC. The "tasks of socialist revolution" fell to the SACP; the mandate of the ANC was a broader "national democrative revolution," he emphasized. Recurring riots in poor neighbourhoods and the largest public service strike in years testify with growing disillusionment with the ANC among its poor black poor base. Figures released last week showed 43 per cent of South Africans live on less than 3,000 rand (416 dollars) a year while the country's official unemployment rate of 25 per cent is one of the world's highest. Responding to criticism of the ANC's failure to improve the lot of millions of South Africans in its 13-year rule, Mbeki said: "It is not possible to resolve problems that have accumulated over 350 years (since the Dutch landed at the Cape) in 13 years of democratic rule." Yet the government still had "a long way to go to deliver a better life for all our people," he conceded, listing unemployment, poverty, a low skills base, rising inflation of 6.3 per cent, the need to diversify the economy and poor international competitiveness among the issues requiring particular attention. The conference takes place amid an ongoing, month-long strike of public service workers which has crippled services in schools and hospitals. COSATU, which called the strike, warned the ANC Wednesday against becoming "a movement of the bourgeoisie....in which they (members) can reap profits and make lucrative deals." The "morality" of fat-cat ANC politicians engaging in major business deals is one of the topics up for discussion at the conference. Policy recommendations emanating from the think-in will only be put to vote at the leadership conference in December.
