President Jacob Zuma said he will not sacrifice himself to “monopoly capital” by resigning.

Addressing the African National Youth League’s (ANCYL) economic freedom lecture in Durban on Wednesday‚ Zuma recalled a time that he was watching the news — something he said he hardly does — when he saw a foreign chamber demanding that he step down.

“You know‚ I listen to the news at times‚ at times I don’t. I heard some chamber from outside of this country demanding the president must go and some big business who also said so‚” he said.

“And I realised it’s more the time that I will never on my own resign‚ because if I do so‚ I would be surrendering to the monopoly capital.”

Zuma said no one has actually told him what wrong he has done‚ except repeating that he was corrupt.

“I ask what is it that I have done wrong. I even ask those who said I have done wrong but they run out of answers. The only answer is the repetition: corruption‚ corruption‚ corruption — until our own comrades also repeat by saying corruption‚” he said.

He told the Youth League that its call for economic freedom has always been the call of the mother body.

He said a similar call was made during the Morogoro consultative conference in 1969‚ and said it was a policy of the ANC to strive towards the total emancipation of the black people.

“The policies of the ANC are there to solve our problems. All we need is implementation and to liberate ourselves. I urge you to take these discussions about the economy more seriously and to worry yourself about the plight of the black people… in our country“.

Zuma said blacks were still languishing in the class struggle‚ saying the proof of this was that the majority of those lumbering in jail were poor black people‚ while those with economic power‚ regardless of the crimes they had committed‚ were not in jail.

“Those with economic power‚ they can commit murder and everything‚ but they are not in jail because they have the best legal brains to defend them. The majority of the poor are in prison and those who have everything‚ not a single one of them is in prison. The nation needs to be aware‚” he said.

He called on the Youth League to address these issues “more vigorously‚ properly‚ convincingly and scientifically”.

“You are talking about economy‚ you are talking about the real power. The balance of forces is the balance of economic power in the world. If you don’t have the economic power‚ it erodes the political power and the security power. And those with economic power buy people with the price they cannot say no to‚” he said. – TMG Digital/The Times