Zuma calls for unity in ANC

President Jacob Zuma has called on the ANC to find solutions to get rid of factions destabilising the party.

Speaking off his prepared speech at the closing session of the ANC's 5th national policy conference‚ Zuma said factions were tearing the party apart.

"I think all of us feel very strongly that factions are not good for the ANC and therefore not good for our country. I think the challenge that faces us is: how do we get rid of the factions? It is clear that we need a remedy‚" said Zuma.

"I want to persuade the membership and everybody that we should find a solution and I think there have been proposals that have been discussed at some commissions‚ but I believe that we need to get rid of factions."

Zuma is due to be step aside as president of the ANC in December ahead of the 2019 general election and is seen as favouring Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to succeed him.

Deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa is also viewed as a contender to replace Zuma‚ and already has backing from at least three unions affiliated to the ANC.

During the commissions this week‚ the ANC's two biggest provinces‚ KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape‚ proposed mechanisms to avoid a brutal showdown between factions at the party's December elective conference.

Zuma warned delegates that slate politics should not feature in the national elective conference because if a certain faction's candidate does not succeed in becoming the president‚ they start plotting to destabilise that current leadership of the ANC.

- TimesLIVE