Do+not+be+afraid+says+Zuma,+Christelle+Terreblanche,+Sindy



=Don't be afraid, Zuma tells world=


 * Christelle Terreblanche, Sunday Independent, 9 December 2007**

//Ahead of historic leadership contest, presidential hopeful calms international fears that he will make radical changes to economic policy if elected//

Jacob Zuma has told an international audience that "nothing will change" if he becomes president of the ANC or the country.

In an unequivocal statement directed at dispelling fears that a radical overhaul of economic policy would follow if he won the ANC's bruising leadership contest in Polokwane next week, he told the Africa Diaspora Foundation in Los Angeles: "Some have said that if Zuma is in charge of the administration, it will move left because of his support from the trade unions ... and the SA Communist Party … and therefore that the economic policies of the government will change.

"I had thought this was not a big issue, but I am grateful to have the opportunity to explain ... that nothing is going to change."

The ANC deputy president made this speech on Thursday night at the end of a two-week charm offensive to top business leaders in world capitals to calm investor nerves after ANC provincial nominations a fortnight ago showed him to have a significant lead over President Thabo Mbeki. In a sign of just how shaken capital is, the influential Financial Times last week repeated local reports that Zuma's aides were drawing up contingency plans to force Mbeki out of office before his term ends in 2009.

"Business people broadly accept Mr Zuma's pledges that he would not shift policy to the left but fear there could be up to 18 months of paralysis in government while Mr Mbeki and Mr Zuma occupy competing centres of power, one as head of government and the other as head of the ruling party," the report added.

Back home, Zuma's backers have moved to quell fears, with key constituency Cosatu dismissing the rumours as planted by "prophets of doom or agents provocateurs desperate to create paranoia". Zuma's top aide, Mo Shaik, also weighed in, saying that toppling Mbeki was never on the agenda, while outlining a six-point policy platform that largely follows existing ANC priorities.

Zuma delivered the 50-minute off-the-cuff speech "in his personal capacity" at the gathering that included South African expatriates, invited by Jeanette Ndlovu, South Africa's Los Angeles consul general.

Zuma also praised Mbeki's leadership, but made telling remarks that indicated he believed the president's third-term bid was outside ANC traditions, citing, among others, Nelson Mandela's decision to step down after one term, moving away from an African tendency "to cling to power".

Significantly, he inferred that he would accept an Mbeki victory: "One thing I can guarantee you ... [is that] whoever [is] elected, the ANC will be united behind that leader…"

Zuma stressed the magnitude of his nomination, sketching his impoverished upbringing and lack of formal education, which he believed was behind some of the concerns about a Zuma presidency.

"I carry no title [and] the ANC has had very serious people leading it," he said to applause. "If Zuma was elected, it would be the first time a person from such a background becomes the president of the ANC..."

In a hint that he believed the ANC was moving away from its middle-class, elitist history, he said: "And I have been saying to myself, what an important happening that people in the ANC ... want this man to lead. It speaks volumes for the poor people in this country."

Asked for comment on Zuma's statement that policy won't change, Gwede Mantashe, the SACP chairman - also nominated for ANC secretary general - said that what they were demanding with their backing for Zuma was primarily "leadership change" and "a change in leadership tone", but that a statement that there will be no change was incorrect.

"We are not a pariah apartheid state," Mantashe said. "We are an important player in global politics and we take into account the views of global institutions ... but you cannot have a stance that there will be no change."

During his speech, Zuma stressed, as did Mbeki in a controversial SABC interview last week, that the ANC believed in collective leadership.

"We believe there cannot be political stability without economic growth and stability... and that there can be no economic boom and growth without political stability."


 * From: http://www.sundayindependent.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4165487**

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