South Africa’s next government will have to depart radically from a decade of conservative economic policy if it is to defuse a “ticking bomb” of poverty, unemployment and crime that threatens to blow a hole in the investment climate, according to an ally of Jacob Zuma, the frontrunner to become president next year.

Zwelinzima Vavi, leader of Cosatu, the trade union federation that was pivotal in delivering the leadership of the ruling African National Congress to Mr Zuma last year, called in an interview with the Financial Times for “a complete review of the conservative strategies that we’ve pursued – all of them”.