RUSTENBURG: South Africa's private sector must change faster to give blacks a larger stake in business, President Jacob Zuma told a rally on Saturday, urging the ruling party to help create more jobs in a local government election year.

Since coming to power in 1994 at the end of white minority rule, the ruling African National Congress party has changed the complexion of the civil service, the military and state-owned companies, helping many who were excluded from the mainstream economy under apartheid to create a solid black middle class.

But Africa's most industrialised economy is struggling, its currency this week hit a record low of 16.315 to the dollar.