Patrice Motsepe

Patrice Motsepe
Motsepe in 2009
7th President of CAF
Incumbent
Assumed office 12 March 2021
Preceded by	Ahmad Ahmad
Personal details
Born	Patrice Tlhopane Motsepe (1962-01-28) 28 January 1962 (age 62) Orlando West, Soweto, Johannesburg.
Spouse	Precious Moloi ​ (m. 1989)​
Children	3[1]
Relatives	Tshepo Motsepe (sister) Bridgette Radebe (sister) Cyril Ramaphosa (brother-in-law) Jeff Radebe (brother-in-law)
Alma mater	University of Swaziland University of the Witwatersrand
Occupation	Philanthropist, Advocate
Known for	Founder, African Rainbow Minerals

Patrice Tlhopane Motsepe (born 28 January 1962) is a South African billionaire businessman and football administrator.^[2] Since March 2021, he has been president of the Confederation of African Football.^[3] He is the founder and executive chairman of African Rainbow Minerals, which has interests in gold, ferrous metals, base metals, and platinum. He sits on several company boards, including being the non-executive chairman of Harmony Gold, the world's 12th largest gold mining company, and the deputy chairman of Sanlam.^[4] He serves on the Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum.^[5]

In 2003, he became the owner of football club Mamelodi Sundowns.^[6]

In 2013, he joined The Giving Pledge, committing to give half of his wealth to charitable causes.^[7]

In January 2024, Motsepe was named Africa's 9th richest man and South Africa's 3rd richest man after Johan Rupert and Nicky Oppenheimer by CNBC Africa alongside Koos Bekker, with an estimated net worth of $2.7 billion.^[8]

In May 2024, Motsepe was ranked as the 1,175th-wealthiest person in the world by Forbes, with a reported fortune of US$2.9 billion.

Early life and education

Patrice Motsepe was born to Kgosi Augustine Motsepe, a chief of the Mmakau branch of the Tswana people, who had previously been a schoolteacher and who was later a small businessman as the owner of a Spaza shop which was popular with mine workers. It was from this shop that Motsepe learned basic business principles from his father, as well as first-hand exposure to mining.

He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Swaziland and a law degree from the University of the Witwatersrand.^[9] He specialised in mining and business law.

Career

In 1994, he became the first black partner in the law firm Bowman Gilfillan—the same year that Nelson Mandela was elected as the country's first black president. While the new government began promoting black empowerment and entrepreneurship; Motsepe founded Future Mining, which provided contract mining services that included the cleaning of gold dust from inside mine shafts for the Vaal Reefs Gold mine, and implemented a system of worker remuneration that combined a low base salary with a profit-sharing bonus.^[10]

Mining

In 1997, with gold prices at a low, he purchased marginal gold mines from AngloGold under favourable finance terms. AngloGold sold Motsepe six gold mine shafts for $7.7 million allowing him to repay the debt out of the future earnings of the company now known as African Rainbow Minerals.^[11]

This was repeated in a string of deals and Motsepe set up a firm to begin buying the operating mines that would become the source of his wealth. In 1999 he teamed up with two of his associates to form Greene and Partners Investments.

The Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) laws introduced after the 1994 elections have been instrumental in cementing Motsepe's position in the mining industry in South Africa. A business must have a minimum of 26% black ownership to be considered for a mining license.^[12]

Since 2004, Motsepe has been a non-executive director of Absa Group and Sanlam.^[4]

In 2002, when it was listed on the JSE Security Exchange, African Rainbow Minerals joined with Harmony Gold Mining Ltd. and the company's name changed to ARMgold. Motsepe is also the founder of African Rainbow Minerals Platinum (Proprietary) Limited and ARM Consortium Limited, which later equally split ownership with Anglo American Platinum Corp Ltd. From 2005, Motsepe was Chairman of Teal Exploration and Mining Incorporated. Motsepe is also chairman of Ubuntu-Botho Investments, Non-Executive chairman of Harmony Gold Mining Co Ltd. and deputy Chairman of Sanlam Ltd. Motsepe has been president of South Africa's Chamber of Commerce and Industry.^[13]

Finance

In 2003, Motsepe created Ubuntu-Botho Investments (UBI) (and in 2019 he owned 55% of it). In 2004 UBI entered into a BEE deal with insurance and financial services company Sanlam.^[14] That deal ended in 2014 when the debt had been paid and UBI acquired 13.5% of Sanlam but UBI has a 18.1% voting stake in Sanlam as its BEE partner. UBI then started African Rainbow Capital (ARC), a wholly owned subsidiary of UBI. ARC's joint chief executive is Johan van Zyl, former executive of Sanlam. ARC has holdings in more than 40 companies, including TymeBank, industrial group Afrimat, agricultural company BKB, telecommunications company Rain, luxury property estate Val de Vie, and a minority stake in Alexander Forbes, the pension fund administrator.^[14]

Renewable energy investments

In 2024, Motsepe extended his investment portfolio to include the renewable energy sector, addressing South Africa’s energy shortages. He supported the establishment of GoSolr, a company specializing in renting solar panels and batteries to residential customers. GoSolr, a collaboration between African Rainbow Capital Investments Ltd. (a branch of Motsepe's Ubuntu-Botho Investments) and Standard Bank Group Ltd., has pledged to invest 10 billion Rands (approximately $537 million) to enhance its solar generation capacity. Initially capable of producing 70 megawatts, the company plans to expand its capacity to about 500 megawatts over a four-year period.^[15]

Sport

Motsepe handing the CAF Confederation Cup trophy to Zamalek's captain Shikabala, Cairo, in May 2024.

Motsepe is the owner of Mamelodi Sundowns F.C. a Premier soccer league club. In November 2019, Motsepe bought a 37% stake in the Blue Bulls Co. The other major shareholders are Remgro (37%) and Blue Bulls Rugby Union (26%).^[16]

In November 2020, Motsepe announced that he would become a candidate to become CAF's president. Quickly accused of being actively supported by FIFA - despite its duty of reserve and neutrality - and its President Gianni Infantino, who would seek to obtain the votes of Africa for future re-election,^[17] Motsepe was elected on 12 March 2021,^[18] after that all four other candidates had withdrawn their candidacies. His son Thlopie Motsepe took over as Mamelodi Sundowns new chairman after he became a new president of CAF.^{[19][20][21][22]}

Advocacy

In 2011, he was named the interim chairman of the Black Business Council,^[23] and is a founding member and former president of one of South Africa's most influential business advocacy and lobby group Business Unity SA (BUSA).^[24]

Recognition

Patrice Motsepe at World Economic Forum on Africa, June 2015, Cape Town

Motsepe won South Africa's Best Entrepreneur Award in 2002.^[4] In 2004, he was voted 39th among the South African Broadcasting Corporation's Great South Africans. In 2008, he was reported as the 503rd-richest person in the world, according to the Forbes 2019 list of The World's Billionaires, then ranked as the 962nd-wealthiest person in the world, and the third-wealthiest South African for 2019.^[25]

In 2017, on its 100th anniversary edition, Forbes Magazine honored Motsepe as one of the “100 Greatest Living Business Minds” in the world.^[26]

In 2020, Motsepe was ranked as the 1,307th-wealthiest person in the world by Forbes, with a reported fortune of US$2.1 billion.^[27]

Controversy

In January 2020, at a World Economic Forum dinner in Davos, Patrice Motsepe publicly told the US Former President Donald Trump that "Africa loves him". Faced with the indignant reactions that this statement provoked throughout the African continent, the billionaire apologised, explaining "I do not have the right to speak on behalf of anybody except myself".^[28]

Personal life

Motsepe is married to Dr. Precious Moloi, a physician and fashion entrepreneur. They have three children.^[27] He is the brother of Tshepo Motsepe and Bridgette Radebe, and the brother-in-law of both President Cyril Ramaphosa and Minister Jeff Radebe.

References

1. "Who Are Patrice Motsepe's Children Thlopie, Kgosi and Kabelo?". Retrieved 24 May 2023.
2. "South African tycoon Motsepe elected as African football supremo". RFI. 12 March 2021. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
3. "Patrice Motsepe: Africa's ninth richest person appointed Caf president | Goal.com". www.goal.com. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
4. "whoswhosa.co.za". www.whoswhosa.co.za. Retrieved 22 May 2024.
5. "Leadership and Governance - World Economic Forum".
6. "Patrice Motsepe's lack of success at Mamelodi Sundowns". Kick Off. 20 August 2013. Retrieved 11 August 2018.
7. "Patrice Motsepe: South African tycoon to donate millions". BBC News. 30 January 2013. Retrieved 30 January 2013.
8. Billionaire Sir Patrice Motsepe Remains South Africa' Richest Man, As Mining Sector Influence Rich List, Ventures Africa, 2012, archived from the original on 21 September 2014, retrieved 25 March 2013
9. Patrice Motsepe | Who's Who SA Archived 16 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Whoswho.co.za. Retrieved on 2016-12-29.
10. "Stocks". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
11. "Patrice Motsepe: a rare success story". Moneyweb. 24 July 2013. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
12. Jacopo Prisco, for. "7 things you didn't know about Patrice Motsepe". CNN. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
13. "AFRICAN RAINBOW MINERALS LTD". Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on 11 October 2012. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
14. Crotty, Ann (24 January 2019). "Decoding Sanlam's cosy deal with Patrice Motsepe". BusinessLIVE. Retrieved 2 December 2019.^{subscription required}
15. Sguazzin, Antony (2 May 2024). "Billionaire-Backed GoSolr Expands to Beat South Africa Blackouts". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
16. Njini, Felix (22 November 2019). "Billionaire adds SA's top rugby team to his empire". Bloomberg. Moneyweb. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
17. "Comment Infantino a imposé Patrice Motsepe à la présidence de la CAF". SOFOOT.com (in French). Retrieved 5 May 2021.
18. Football, CAF-Confedération Africaine du. "Dr. Patrice Motsepe elected 7th CAF President unopposed in Rabat". CAFOnline.com. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
19. "CAF : le Sud-Africain Patrice Motsepe élu président par proclamation". L'Équipe (in French). Retrieved 16 March 2021.
20. "Les dessous très politiques de l'élection de Patrice Motsepe à la Confédération africaine de football". Le Monde.fr (in French). 12 March 2021. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
21. "Ingérence de la FIFA, tractations diplomatiques : comment l'élection de Patrice Motsepe à la tête du football africain a été un enjeu géopolitique". Francetvsport (in French). 11 March 2021. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
22. "Billionaire Motsepe elected president of African soccer". AP NEWS. 12 March 2021. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
23. "Motsepe to chair new Black Business Council". TimesLIVE. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
24. "Patrice Motsepe, Founder and Executive Chairman, African Rainbow Minerals Ltd., South Africa". Thomas White International. Archived from the original on 16 February 2018. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
25. "Meet the ultra-rich South Africans you’ve probably never heard of", Business Tech, 18 May 2018. Accessed 22 March 2019.
26. "Lessons And Ideas By The 100 Greatest Living Business Minds". www.forbesafrica.com. 3 November 2017. Retrieved 22 May 2024.
27. "Forbes profile: Patrice Motsepe". Forbes. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
28. Naidoo, Prinesha (28 January 2020). "South African Billionaire Apologizes After Telling President Trump Africa 'Loves' Him". Time.

External links

• What a lot he's got in The Sowetan of 6–7 March 2008 (archived 10 March 2008)
• Patrice Motsepe's ups and downs (archived 13 March 2016)
• Biography in Black Entrepreneur Profile (archived 3 November 2006)
• African Rainbow Minerals website
• 'Nationalise Motsepe's wealth'^{[permanent dead link‍]} News24