Ramaphosa: Watch this space, economic transformation is coming

Cape Town – Watch this space, economic transformation is coming, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa has assured Parliament.

The deputy president was answering questions in Parliament on Thursday, when he was questioned about the seemingly slow pace of transformation in the economy.

This was all about to change, Ramaphosa promised.

The government, under the African National Congress, had not made as much progress in transforming the economy as they had anticipated, he said.

This was a reality.

“The economy of our country is white owned, white controlled and that should pose a real challenge to all of us,” he said.

Economic power was important, he said, and needed to be put in the hands of the people.

He said while various measures had been put in place, they had admittedly not borne as much fruit as expected.

“Yes, we have not made as much progress as anticipated, but we will be making progress because that has now become a key focus of this governing party.”

They will be coming up with programmes and initiatives especially to speed up economic transformation, he said

“And they [programmes] are going to move the needle in a way that black people have a sense and feel they are going to benefit from the economy,” Ramaphosa said.

One of these focuses was in procurement, he said, where mostly white companies benefitted.

“That is going to be turned on its head, we want the majority of black people’s companies to benefit from that. I say watch this space, you are going to see great progress and changes beginning to ensure as we go forward,” he said.

The economy grows best when the people who are meant to benefit are active participants, he said.

The deputy president was also questioned on skills development in the country.

He said they were working with the private sector to ensure that skills development met the economic needs.

“We are finalising an agreement with the private sector to have them employ 1 million young people on internships over 3 years.”

They were hopeful that most of these young people would be retained in these companies once their internships ended.

If they could, he wanted the private companies to take more than a million, but they were still negotiating.