Ramaphosa pointed out that it was really difficult for anyone to start a new business. It involved a thicket of difficulties to overcome, including having to be properly registered, able to carry out obligations to the SA Revenue Service and administer proper bookkeeping procedures.

Ramaphosa said one of his friends, whom he did not name, had given up a top job at Anglo American after 42 years and had thrown himself into starting a new business. He had not found it an easy exercise at all, Ramaphosa said.

It emerged in question time that this man was Clem Sunter, who penned a praise song in a financial magazine to Ramaphosa after the Shanduka executive chairman was appointed as deputy commissioner of the National Planning Commission.

Rhetorically, Sunter asked who of “these worthy” men and women would champion the interests of the entrepreneurs. The answer was self-explanatory.

Sunter wrote: “I have argued for many years that the only way to turn our exclusive economy into an inclusive economy is to precipitate an entrepreneurial revolution, which means putting a huge focus on our informal sector and creating conditions to allow small business to graduate into the formal sector.”

Ramaphosa described Sunter as being “spot on”. After being head of Anglo’s gold and uranium division, Sunter was now struggling but making his mark in the small business sector.

Perhaps it was a case of “you scratch my back, and I will scratch yours”.

Edited by Peter Delonno. With contributions from Ingi Salgado and Donwald Pressly.

CAPE TIMES – 11 May 2010