But the political and economic challenges facing Zuma’s government are immense and few are under any illusions that progress in developing a more equitable economy will be quick or easy.
After 18 years of democratic rule unemployment is still around 25 percent and South Africa is still one of the most unequal countries on earth.
Growth has been dramatically slowed by labour market unrest, most notably in the mining sector. Corruption is rampant and the public education and health systems are abysmal.
“There will certainly be no easy walk to socio-economic freedom,” Zuma told delegates and the country on the final day of the conference.
And if Zuma is to push through a more pro-business agenda, he will have to contend with both members of his party and the tripartite alliance which the ANC leads.
The ANC is very much the primus inter pares of the governing alliance with the South African Communist Party and the union umbrella group COSATU, but the relationship is symbiotic and membership often overlaps.
On Friday COSATU pointedly said it would continue to press for “policies explicitly aimed at redistributing income, radically raising incomes of the working poor, and reducing inequality.”
Previous attempts to push through the National Development Plan have been stalled by hostile ministries and regional officials.
The delicateness of Zuma’s ideological and political balancing act was laid bare on Friday by Ramaphosa himself, when he sounded much more like the traditional ANC — “a disciplined force of the left.”
“The approach is set out: people shall share in the wealth of South Africa,” he told a business breakfast in Bloemfontein.
“The ANC must see to that and the state would intervene,” even if the focus is on “strategic” rather than “wholesale” intervention.
Still Zuma’s actions at the conference appear to have been enough to make the ratings agencies and investors hold fire.
In a statement Moody’s said it “reserves judgment on how the conference decisions will affect South Africa’s Baa1 sovereign rating and negative outlook.”
Moody’s and others are now waiting “until there is greater clarity on some of these details.”
They are not the only ones.
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