Zuma+moves+to+quell+‘succession+jitters’,+P+Harper,+S+Times

=**Zuma moves to quell ‘succession jitters’**=

Paddy Harper, Sunday Times, 28 October, 2007
ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma has upped the ante in the party succession race, calling for the re- instatement of the Reconstruction and Development Programme that was dumped under President Thabo Mbeki’s administration.

Addressing a Jacob Zuma RDP Education Trust fundraising dinner in Durban on Friday night, Zuma described the RDP as the “greatest piece of policy ever adopted in Africa’s history”. Government, Zuma said, made a grave mistake by abandoning it.

Zuma also called for free and compulsory education up to matric and greater spending on the aged. He attacked both government and tertiary institutions for the policy of withholding the results of students who could not afford to pay fees.

Zuma described the high cost of education in post-apartheid South Africa as “criminal”.

His comments came in the wake of fellow presidential hopeful Tokyo Sexwale’s criticism that contenders for the ANC presidency did not express themselves on policy issues and hence could not be assessed ahead of taking office.

Zuma’s comments also followed a series of meetings he attended with international investment houses, including US group City Bank, and a luncheon briefing with Merrill Lynch this week.

In addition, they appeared to be a response to this week’s defence of the growth, employment and redistribution strategy by Mbeki.

Addressing donors and beneficiaries of the Trust, which has educated 6700 school-going children and 260 tertiary students since 1997, Zuma criticised the black economic empowerment policy.

“Even billionaires are BEE today ... Some people need to tell us where this BEE thing ends,” he said.

He called for “massive” public and private-sector investment in education. “One of the problems today is that education is more costly than under apartheid. One day we should be able to say that a child who is not in school is committing a crime ... If that child has parents, they must be in trouble.

“In my view, education must be compulsory and free, at least up to matric. There is no point in saying we want to educate the nation and then make education inaccessible.”

Zuma said that the withholding of students’ results over fees only resulted in increased unemployment, with students being blacklisted before they could even go out and earn a living to repay their debts.

He said that children and the aged needed serious levels of support from the state and the community.

Zuma advisers said yesterday that his comments were an indication that Zuma would escalate public engagement on policy issues, addressing the right and left of the ANC, in a bid to reassure a broad spectrum of interest groups that political and economic stability would be maintained despite the ANC’s bruising succession battle.

“He has been giving insight into what to expect under his presidency, tailoring the message according to the audience, to shed light on where he stands on a range of issues,” said one aide.

“He’s being more direct on policy issues than he ordinarily would to end speculation that he will pander to his support base and to stop the jitters around the succession.”

South African Communist Party secretary-general Blade Nzimande, who attended Friday’s dinner, said Zuma’s comments demonstrated “commitment on the crucial issues of expanded social services, education, health and job creation”.

“We welcome those comments... Similarly, the emphasis on the centrality and role of the RDP is very important to us,” he said.


 * From: http://www.thetimes.co.za/PrintEdition/News/Article.aspx?id=598452**

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