Former African Union chair and African National Congress (ANC) National Executive Committee (NEC) member Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has indirectly urged the ANC not to use the fact that she is President Jacob Zuma's ex-wife when the party elects its next president in December.

Speaking at the Steven Dlamini Memorial Lecture in Ixopo on Tuesday, Dlamini-Zuma said, "We must not allow people to say uwumuntu kasibanibani (you're so and so's lover). A comrade is a comrade."

Opposition parties and some factions within the ANC do not want Dlamini-Zuma to be the country's next president because of her previous relationship with Zuma.

Even though the KZN ANC denied she was on the campaign trail on Tuesday, Dlamini-Zuma warned those who will be contesting the ANC presidency position in December to embrace each other after the conference.

Dlamini-Zuma said if you win, embrace the losers and if you lose, follow the winners.

She urged the ANC to refrain from factionalism.

"We must also do away with factionalism. It kills the organisation. Factions must stop," Dlamini-Zuma said.

She reiterated that doing away with factions didn't mean it was the end of democracy.

The revolution is not over, warned Dlamini-Zuma.

"Yes, we got political power. Political power without economic power means the revolution is not over," she said, adding that political power was bound to be lost without economic power.

"We must ensure we have black industrialists and ensure that the pattern of land ownership changes," she said, adding that the DA will not change that.

Dlamini-Zuma acknowledged that the ANC-led government had not achieved everything since it took over government resulting in nationwide protests.

Protesting is a right that the ANC fought for, but these should be peaceful protests, she said.

She appealed to protesters not to burn government property when they were dissatisfied with service delivery in their areas.

"Protest in a way that doesn't take our revolution backwards," Dlamini-Zuma said.

Steven Dlamini was a member of the ANC NEC during apartheid. He died in exile in Lusaka.

"Even in exile he was part of the revolution committee that (late) Oliver Tambo chaired," said Dlamini-Zuma.

Dlamini was also the president of the South African Congress of Trade Unions, a forerunner for Cosatu, and the member of the SACP's central committee.

She said the ANC and its alliance should take a leaf from Dlamini's life and work together.

She said the ANC and its alliance should instill patriotism and revolutionary consciousness among its members.