South Africans are tired of seeing businesses being run by a minority, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Saturday.

“People are tired of having the businesses in our country being run by a minority. Our own people must run their business and we will empower them to do that,” Ramaphosa said during the launch of his Thuma Mina (send me) campaign in Stanger, north of Durban on Saturday.

Government was working “feverishly” to ensure black citizens became “serious business people”. “We want them to run businesses and employ others. We want radical economic empowerment and transformation to be the order of the day,” he said after handing out title deeds in the Stanger area.

“The ANC is now involved in a massive project to give our people’s dignity back to them by giving title deeds and land. We are committed to this irrevocably. Our people’s dignity was rubbished by apartheid rule,” said Ramaphosa.

Title deeds were part of an economic renewal process that would lead to empowerment.

“Our people can empower themselves with assets, including land. We are going to give land to our people; we are just not going to talk about it. We have set up an inter-ministerial committee to look at land renewal and reform. We are going to set up an expert task team that is also doing that. The slogans are over now; we are now going to give land to our people. This is the fulfilment of a promise the ANC made because we are a listening organisation,” he said.

Addressing increases in VAT and fuel, Ramaphosa reiterated that he had called on retailers and producers to hold back on price increases to “ease the burden” on the population. Ministers would meet retailers to discuss a “packet of measures” that could alleviate the burden on consumers.

– African News Agency (ANA)