The economy and land must belong to all who live in South Africa, former African Union committee chair and ANC NEC member Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said on Sunday.
Dlamini-Zuma said it was not fair that 90 percent of the country's economy belonged to only whites.
"It's not desirable that 90 percent of those in the economy are whites. Monopoly has no colour in other countries, but in South Africa it does," she said.
Dlamini-Zuma, who is in the race to become ANC and the country's president, was addressing delegates in Durban on Sunday at the 1st National Policy Council of the SA Youth Alliance in conjunction with Youth in Action (YIA).
The conference discussed issues including leadership, transformation, inclusive economy education and skills development.
She said by 1913, the land was already taken way from blacks. The land issue needs to be immediately addressed, she said.
Dlamini-Zuma said the country should start processing its own raw materials in order to create employment and preserve revenue.
"When you're exporting raw material, you are donating revenue and jobs to the country you're exporting it to. If we process our own, we can create more jobs and revenue," she said.
Education
She implied that if the apartheid government was able to give their children quality education, then the ANC-led government must also implement the same policy.
"If they thought free and compulsory education was good for whites, it's good for us," she said.
She urged the youth to use education to free themselves economically.
"Education is the fastest equaliser between the rich and the poor," said Dlamini-Zuma.
She encouraged the youth to also demand free broadband when demanding free education.
"Nobody should be denied education because they are poor," she said.
But she advised: "Hold your horses, don't have babies when you're still babies. Finish your education first."
She said part of colonisation was to colonise the minds of black South Africans in order for them to feel inferior to whites.
She also called for the review of the old colonial system used to teach teachers.
She blamed colonisation for the way the education system was designed to give blacks "inferior education".
Township and rural schools were very different from white schools in terms infrastructure, she said.
Black schools lacked proper toilets and quality education, she said.
She encouraged the youth of today to start shaping their future in order to gain economic freedom.
"If you don't, you will inherit a future that you don't like. If the young people, then, did not shape their future, you'll still be oppressed. The youth is the present and the future. Begin to shape your future today," she said.
In 2019, the ruling party will be the ANC, Dlamini-Zuma said.
"But from the councillor up to the president, we must be responsible and deliver," she warned.
President of YIA Robert Ndlela said they are fully behind Dlamini-Zuma as the next president of the country because she takes the views of the youth seriously.
"We are saying to you [Dlamini-Zuma] go out there and create space for the youth's aspirations," said Ndlela.