South Africa not falling apart, insists president

South Africa is not “falling apart” and the ruling African National Congress (ANC) can run the continent’s biggest economy, President Jacob Zuma said yesterday, as he sought to dispel the concerns of rating agencies and investors about sluggish growth.

In his opening address to an ANC conference to choose its leadership for the next five years, Zuma said two downgrades by ratings agencies this year did not mean South Africa was in trouble.

“We want to dismiss the perceptions that our country is falling apart because of the downgrades,” he said. “We continue to do our development work, we continue to plan for a recovery.”