20120626
AP
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa's president is calling on his African National Congress party to root out corruption and return to the values of its past.

President Jacob Zuma opened the ANC policy conference, held every five years, on Tuesday. He received a warm if subdued greeting of song from about 3,000 delegates.

Zuma says the century-old ANC, revered for leading the fight against apartheid, should "cleanse itself of alien tendencies," including corruption, a comment that sparked scattered applause. He says South Africa has made political strides, but the economic problems of poverty, unemployment and inequality must be confronted.

The ANC is developing policies on the economy and in other areas ahead of internal leadership elections that will be held later this year. South Africa's next national election is in 2014.