Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa has promised black business that government will spend billions on Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) in the coming years.

“We are going to intensify BBBEE. We are going to sharpen our teeth and determination when it comes to unemployment.

“We expect that our black industrialists will have up to R24bn made available to them to redefine the way business is done in our country,” he said at an ANC summit for academics and professionals in Johannesburg on Wednesday night.

Ramaphosa encouraged black business to bring their ideas to the ANC. He then asked them to open their wallets to support the party’s local government elections campaign.

Ramaphosa said the time of white business monopolies was over. Government was hell-bent on making sure blacks owned and managed the economy.

“For far too long this economy has been owned and controlled by white people. That must come to end. For far too long, this economy has been managed by white people. That must come to an end.

“Those who don’t like this idea – tough for you. That is how we are proceeding,” he said.

Ramaphosa said government was obsessed with empowering black South Africans.

“In some cases we have become fanatical about it. It is in this area that we know we will be able to plant seeds of further economic growth in our country,” Ramaphosa said.

The ANC’s relations with business and academics were essential to speeding up the party’s efforts to change the country. Academics and professionals had started the ANC and had been agents of change during the country’s history, he said.

News24