Presidential hopeful Cyril Ramaphosa is ready to take over as South Africa's captain.

During his talk at the Gordon Institute of Business Science in Johannesburg on Tuesday, Ramaphosa used the analogy of a captain steering a plane to its safe destination.

When asked who the captain of South Africa's flight was, he said a plane is flown by a captain and a co-pilot. It was the "co-pilot's plane now", he said.

Ramaphosa began openly campaigning at the African National Congress (ANC) branch level while in Grahamstown during a cadres' forum.

He said party branches must elect leaders who will work for the people, not for their "own houses".

Endorsements

Ramaphosa then asked branches to vote for a leader they knew would restore the ANC to the "glorious movement" it was during the December elective conference.

Ramaphosa has already been endorsed by the Northern Cape as well as by the ANC Gauteng chairperson.

He is also said to enjoy popularity in the Eastern Cape which was once a king maker province for the ANC.

A mock ballot conducted by the Durban-based Xubera Institute for Research and Development found that Ramaphosa was the favourite to replace President Jacob Zuma as the president of the ANC, City Press reported.

Ramaphosa was addressing business students on radical economic transformation.

He said that captains of industry as well as international investors needed to understand and realise the necessity of economic transformation.

"Radical economic transformation is therefore not a break with existing policy. It does not represent a new uncertain path."

He said it indicated a new phase of accelerated implementation of the long-standing economic position of the ANC and government.

He said the country would end up at its final destination of economic freedom for all but it would take time.