President Jacob Zuma on Friday flatly rejected calls to nationalise South Africa's rich mines, saying his plan to invest in infrastructure was the best way to create jobs and fight poverty.

"Nationalisation is not our policy. It's as clear as that," he told a business gathering in Cape Town.

He said that nationalisation would be raised at the next policy conference of his ruling African National Congress, because youth leader Julius Malema had raised the issue for debate.

"We do not do things in secret... It does not mean that (because) one person has a view it is policy," Zuma said. "Please, nationalisation is not the ANC or government's policy."

Malema is facing a five-year suspension from the ANC, after a disciplinary committee found him guilty of fomenting dissent within the party and failing to abide by the party's rules.

Once a vocal backer of Zuma, Malema has called for nationalising mines as way to spread South Africa's wealth to the 40 percent of the population living in poverty.

The party commissioned a study into issue, which found that nationalisation would hurt the economy, and instead proposed higher taxes on mining.

Top government officials have repeatedly rejected Malema's ideas, and Zuma used his address on parliament to call for greater private investment in mining, supported by a $40 billion government investment to improve railways and ports to shore up exports.

"You cannot have jobs without the private sector investing," he said Friday.

"We believe the infrastructure we are talking about is massive and it has to create jobs," Zuma said.

"It's no longer going to be government as usual. We are in fact going to enhance the law (around time schedules). I'm sure down the line you will see the difference, absolutely."

Despite steady economic growth since the end of white-minority rule in 1994, South Africa has battled to create enough jobs to make a dent in poverty.

The unemployment rate in the December quarter last year was at 23.9 percent, the lowest level since 2009, but rises to 32.7 percent when those who have given up hope of finding work are included.