LONDON — South Africa’s president said Wednesday that his corruption-ridden party, the African National Congress, had lost its founding values and now faced a “Damascus moment” in trying to regain the people’s confidence and support.

“We have said to ourselves: ‘We cannot carry on like this. We have deviated from the values and the principles that have always defined the A.N.C.,’” President Cyril Ramaphosa said in an interview with The New York Times in Davos, Switzerland, where he was attending the World Economic Forum.

“People have lost confidence in us,” said Mr. Ramaphosa, who will lead his party in national elections that will most likely be held in May.

Repeating the message he was pushing at the forum, Mr. Ramaphosa said efforts to clean up the African National Congress were already underway. And he pledged to return the party of Nelson Mandela to its past glory.

Revelations from a continuing high-level inquiry into corruption during the tenure of Mr. Ramaphosa’s predecessor, the scandal-tainted Jacob Zuma, have led his country to a “cathartic moment,” the South African leader said.

“That sort of moment — Damascus moment for us — has actually enabled us to get to grip with what needs to be done,” he said. He added, “We will be able to turn a new chapter on the life of our country, rid of corruption.”

Seeking investments to give a jolt to South Africa’s sluggish economy, Mr. Ramaphosa attempted to repair the reputation of his party at the gathering of world leaders and investors in Davos.

Since becoming president last February, Mr. Ramaphosa has been unable to fulfill his promises to deliver growth and more jobs, with his country’s economy hobbled by endemic corruption in the government and state-owned enterprises.

In Davos on Wednesday, Mr. Ramaphosa repeated some of the same messages he has been delivering at home in the past year. But the issue is still whether he can deliver on his promises.

Mr. Ramaphosa has started to clean out certain ministries, agencies and state enterprises, removing key allies of Mr. Zuma under whom corruption flourished.

But Mr. Ramaphosa’s support inside the A.N.C. remains uncertain, and with just months left before the elections, he has struggled to unite the party behind him.

Though the A.N.C. is expected to win the most votes, it is far from clear whether Mr. Ramaphosa will get a big enough victory to claim a mandate and aggressively root out corruption, as his allies say he wants to do.

For now, several political allies of Mr. Zuma who have long been accused of corruption serve in his cabinet or at the highest levels of the party. And Mr. Ramaphosa’s own government has been tainted by allegations of the same sort of self-dealing that led to the ouster of Mr. Zuma.

Most prominently, his deputy, David Mabuza, was a longtime leader of a small province where corruption was endemic. Mr. Mabuza has been accused of siphoning money meant for education and other services to finance his meteoric rise in national politics — and deliver the votes that gave Mr. Ramaphosa a slim victory in party elections in December 2017.

When an article detailing Mr. Mabuza’s rise was published in The Times last August, the deputy president was questioned in Parliament by opposition lawmakers and even criticized by members of his own party in the news media. Mr. Ramaphosa did not comment on Mr. Mabuza then.

Asked about his deputy in the interview Wednesday, Mr. Ramaphosa defended him, though not forcefully.

“None of the issues that have been alleged against him has, as far as I know, been brought to either the police or the criminal justice system,” Mr. Ramaphosa said. The country’s prosecutors, he said, would act “without fear, prejudice or favor” should such evidence emerge.

“As a leader, if allegations like that are made against you, you want them to be proven,” Mr. Ramaphosa said.

But the national prosecuting authority is one of the government institutions that were weakened during Mr. Zuma’s presidency. Despite a series of scandals that have rocked the country, few have been held to account for large-scale corruption that has put South Africa’s future in question.

At a news conference in Davos, Mr. Ramaphosa said he had “taken steps to strengthen the prosecuting authority.”

In recent years, the A.N.C., which once inspired people across Africa and the world, has come to symbolize deep-rooted corruption.

Party leaders have stolen tens of billions of dollars meant to lift up poor black South Africans. They have gutted key government institutions like the tax agency, to gain better access to government accounts. They have even taken to eliminating rivals, in Mafia-like assassinations.

Mr. Ramaphosa acknowledged the slow pace of progress, saying that “things like corruption become a way of life.” But he underlined his commitment to deal with the issue ahead of the elections.

“This time we’re not just saying it, we’re living it,” he said, adding, “because if we don’t do so, we’re going to be punished at the polls.”

Selam Gebrekidan reported from London, and Norimitsu Onishi from Montreal. Jim Yardley contributed reporting from Davos, Switzerland.

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