WATCH: We must keep the interests of our people at heart, says Ramaphosa

Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa says the African National Congress’ (ANC’s) radical economic transformation policy shouldn’t be used by leaders for their own narrow interests, and the benefit of certain families.

Delivering a message of support at the 6th Central Committee of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) in Pretoria on Tuesday, Ramaphosa said structural economic transformation in the country should benefit all citizens, not just a few. He said those who chanted the slogan of radical economic transformation hadn’t explained how it would be achieved.

“We must keep the interests of our people at heart and ask ourselves are all these things being done to primarily advance the interests of our people. And we must steadily work to ensure that our economic trajectory is the type that will be organic, that will have sufficient legs to be able to benefit our people as a whole from the grassroots level,” he said.

“And it must not be a top-down situation where people who are chanting the slogan of economic transformation are doing it just to advance their own interests,” he added.

The message of support to Cosatu delivered by the ANC deputy president followed a decision by the labour federation’s central executive committee last week to bar President Jacob Zuma from speaking at all its events and meetings.

The governing party’s biggest alliance partner in April endorsed Ramaphosa as Zuma’s successor when his term ends as ANC president at the party’s national elective conference later this year in December.

Cosatu has called on Zuma to step down prior to that though.

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