‘Business endorsement not priority’

IT is fine if the business community declined to endorse her bid to succeed President Jacob Zuma as leader of the ANC, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said yesterday.

Her priority was to transfer wealth from the white minority to the generally poorer black majority.

Opposers of that policy were mainly whites, or members of the black elite who wanted to preserve the status quo, Dlamini-Zuma said.

“If we have to choose between our people having a better life and investment, that’s not a choice,” she said, when asked about whether her policies could scare away businesses. “I’m not afraid of them. But I am not surprised white minority capital is not endorsing me,” she said in a rare interview on ANN7 TV.

ANC delegates will vote for a new party president next month, with Dlamini-Zuma expected to face Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is more popular with foreign investors.

“From where I sit, it’s looking good. The campaign is really going well,” Dlamini-Zuma said.

Some investors are concerned about her proposed plan of radical economic transformation, which critics have said is a populist term, not backed up by solid policies.