President Jacob Zuma says the ruling party should not be “shy” about leveraging its political power to economically advance the black majority and drive transformation, adding that if the African National Congress does not leverage on its political power, it will be used against the party by its political adversaries.

Addressing the South Africa–Zimbabwe Business Forum, in Pretoria, on Thursday, an energised Zuma argued that principles of democracy should not be used to ensure perpetual subjugation, but should rather be used by the black majority to ensure economic liberation.

“Something we need not be shy about is using our political power to economically empower ourselves, because no one is going to do it for us.

“Our definition of democracy must be realistic, it cannot be sentimental… we must use the majority, [because] if other people were in the majority, they would use it effectively… if you don’t use it, it will be used against you. You can’t be shy to take decisions to change the lives of our people,” he commented, flanked on the forum panel by Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe.

He added that South Africa should be wary of developing progressive laws and programmes that were only “partly” progressive, for fear of criticism, noting that policies should be “bold and corrective”.

“We introduced user-friendly, democratic laws, among them the empowerment of black people. We avoided many things that we would be criticised for [but] no matter what we did, the critics, said [it was] racism in reverse. Yet, we had a history that put us in poverty, and that’s what were trying to get out of in a constitutional manner."

Zuma reiterated his previous concerns over the lack of black ownership of JSE-listed companies, reiterating his earlier assertion that only 3% of companies listed on the local bourse were black-owned.

Share ownership that did not enable a controlling interest in the company by black people did not qualify as black empowerment, he held.

“If you live on shares, you are not in control…we want industrialists that own and control the economy. We can’t be shy about that… it will help black people for the first time to benefit properly."

The President, meanwhile, appealed to the South African youth to participate in radical, sustainable transformation of the economy.

“To me, we are struggling to liberate ourselves economically, [so you, as the youth] should be as angry as when we liberated ourselves politically.

“If we worked hard to bring about political freedom, I think it’s your turn to work hard to bring economic freedom…I think you should do the same…it’s urgent, it’s correct,” he remarked.

Thursday’s gathering came on the back of a two-day State visit to South Africa by Mugabe, who gave a lengthy keynote address during which he encouraged bilateral trade between the two countries and took aim at Western States and companies that, he said, continued to exploit African resources.