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South African Leader Says Unity Is Vital

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By CELEAN JACOBSON, The Associated Press

Published: January 13, 2008

ATTERIDGEVILLE, South Africa - Jacob Zuma, the new head of the African National Congress, called Saturday for unity in his first major speech as party leader.
Zuma - addressing about 20,000 people at a 96th anniversary celebration for the ruling party - sought to quell the growing political tensions in South Africa after his battle with President Thabo Mbeki for the party leadership.

"We acknowledge that the past few months and years have placed the unity of the ANC under great strain," Zuma said in Atteridgeville, near Pretoria. "We concede that the contestation of leadership positions served at times to fuel a perception of discord within our ranks. We must bring about unity in the movement."

Mbeki did not attend the speech.
Zuma was elected leader at a party conference in December in which his supporters swept all the top positions - while trusted Mbeki lieutenants, including the deputy president, defense minister and finance minister, were ousted.

A week later, Zuma, a 65-year-old ex-guerrilla, was charged with corruption, money laundering, fraud and racketeering in relation to an alleged multimillion-dollar arms deal scandal. He is to stand trial in August.

He is accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from the French company Thint to stop investigations into government weapons contracts suspected of being secured with bribes.

Mbeki fired Zuma as the country's deputy president in 2005 after Zuma's financial adviser was convicted of trying to take bribes from Thint.

Still, the ANC's executive confirmed Zuma as its candidate for the presidency. Zuma's allies say he is the victim of a political vendetta.
Zuma said little about AIDS and crime, perhaps the greatest challenges facing South Africa.

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