He, however, said that he bears no grudges.

Here are ten key quotes from Zuma's final address as ANC leader:

1. On private sector corruption

"Serious concerns have been raised that corruption in the private sector is treated with kid gloves, and is referred to in softer terms such as 'collusion', 'accounting irregularities' or 'lapses in corporate governance'. Theft and corruption in the private sector [are] as bad as that in government and must be dealt with decisively by law enforcement agencies."

2. On the ANC's scourges

"The scourges of factionalism, gate-keeping, ill-discipline, membership buying, and infighting continued to afflict our movement. Our people are frustrated when we spend more time fighting among ourselves than focusing on solving the day to day challenges they experience."

3. On ill-discipline

"There have also been worse incidents of ill-discipline, where members openly side with and work with opposition parties and other formations that are hostile to the ANC, against positions adopted by the movement. We need to reaffirm the authority of the organisation over its individual members. There should be consequences for any member who acts and speaks contrary to the values, principles and political programme of the ANC."

4. On losing three metros

"The National Executive Committee meeting in the immediate aftermath of the announcement of the results attributed our loss of support to perceptions in society that we are soft on corruption, self-serving and arrogant. It is clear that our failure to confront problems head-on and solve them has begun to take their toll on the movement."

5. On rogue MPs

"The danger also exists for factional and personal interests to play themselves out in Parliament, to the extent of the ruling party even voting itself out of power if this is left unchecked.

6. On the media

"We should also be mindful of the fact that the media is an active participant, with vested interests, rather than an impartial and fair observer on ANC organisational matters. The mobilisation of the media against the country and the ANC from Johannesburg to London, New York and Washington DC has gained momentum in recent months. We need to reflect on how to communicate with our people in a climate where forces hostile to the ANC control the means and platforms of communication."

7. On the courts

"Judgments that give an impression that we can disregard the Constitution for political expediency or to solve what we regard as current problems, set a dangerous precedent which will make it difficult to govern in future, or to make ordinary citizens to abide by the Constitution."

8. On business activism

"We have also seen unusual activism from the private sector lately in support of such formations, with big business taking the unusual step at times to encourage workers to leave work with full pay, and march against the democratic government. The same employers adopt a no work no pay stance when the workers demand better wages and working conditions."

9. On civil society

"We have seen in the recent past the sporadic emergence of some civil society groupings that are mobilised on the basis of hostile opinions against the ANC. Some NGOs appear to exist merely to fight the ANC and the ANC government. They appear to be well resourced, and constantly take government to court to fight political battles."

10. On Cosatu and the SACP

"In an unprecedented move, we saw in the past few months our alliance partners marching side by side with right-wing forces who are historical opponents of our democratic revolution calling on the president of the ANC to step down."

News24