Former president Thabo Mbeki has cautioned against the use of the term "white monopoly capital", accusing government of not fully understanding how the economy works.
Mbeki was interviewed by Power FM's Given Mkhari on Thursday night.
In a wide-ranging interview, he said a lot of what happened during the Polokwane in 2008 when he lost the ANC leadership race to President Jacob Zuma was "based on lies" and said the country needed to do everything in its power now to avoid the abuse of state resources.
According to Eyewitness News (EWN), Mbeki said there was a disconnect between the government and the private sector. He said closing this gap was crucial in restoring confidence in the economy.
Mbeki said more innovative ideas were needed to grow the economy.
"You can't produce a product in 2017, in the modern world, using technology that was used in 2000. It's overtaken by the development of technology, so you need to invest in new technology and do new research in order to catch up with the global market," Mbeki said.
He said the use of the term "white monopoly capital" was a misdiagnosis of the problem facing the economy.
"So when somebody comes to you to say the principal enemy of the national democratic revolution is white monopoly capital and things like that. I know the role of monopoly capital," Mbeki said.
"Who is this enemy? You're obliged to say the Rupert's and others," he added.
Mbeki said it was crucial that private sector confidence was restored, the SABC reported.
"A lot of your South African corporations maintain very high levels of liquidity that huge volumes of money are in our banks from our corporate sector, they are not being invested in our economy. Owners of the capital have always thought that the transition was too good to be true. We aren't confident enough. There is some kind of dis juncture between those who've exercised state power since 1994 and those who control capital. We need to bridge this gulf of mistrust, lack of cooperation between the corporate sector and political power."
Mbeki also cautioned against the abuse of state power.
"Access to state power can be abused for state enrichment. Do whatever is necessary to ensure that these people that you are working with in government don't abuse that access to state power. Avoid being driven by what appears to be popular opinion. So you must be able to justify the steps that you are taking not on the basis that you are going to get a very good newspaper headline but because what you are going to say is going to produce a positive result that you need."