During South Africa’s democratic transition in the early 1990s, Cyril Ramaphosa played a central role as a chief negotiator. Many believed he would succeed Nelson Mandela as the country’s president, but the position ultimately went to Thabo Mbeki.
Following his departure from frontline politics in the late 1990s, Ramaphosa turned his attention to business, where he achieved immense financial success. By 2018, Forbes estimated his fortune at approximately R6.4 billion, though more recent assessments of his wealth are not publicly available.
His business empire was largely built through black economic empowerment transactions and a diverse portfolio of corporate investments. The cornerstone of his wealth was the Shanduka Group, an investment holding company he founded in 2001.
As executive chairman of Shanduka, Ramaphosa oversaw investments across energy, mining, property, banking, insurance, and telecommunications. The group quickly became one of South Africa’s leading black-owned empowerment firms.
Ramaphosa’s roots in organized labour during the 1980s, when he was a prominent trade union figure, sharpened his negotiating skills—an ability that later proved invaluable in the corporate environment. A notable milestone for Shanduka came in 2011, when it secured the licence to operate all McDonald’s restaurants in South Africa.
With his election as deputy president of the ANC in 2012, Ramaphosa began unwinding his business holdings to avoid conflicts of interest. He resigned from several corporate boards and sold McDonald’s South Africa to MSA Holdings, a company based in the United Arab Emirates.
In May 2014, following Jacob Zuma’s re-election, Ramaphosa was appointed deputy president of South Africa. At the time, Shanduka was valued at more than R20 billion, with the Ramaphosa family’s Tshivhase Trust as its majority shareholder. Before returning fully to politics, he had held long-standing leadership roles, including chairmanships at MTN for over ten years and at Bidvest for nine years.
Later in 2014, Ramaphosa completed his exit from Shanduka through a merger with Phembani, another black-owned investment firm, which was finalised in 2015. Shanduka’s investment portfolio had included some of the world’s and South Africa’s most prominent companies, such as MTN, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Standard Bank, Bidvest, Liberty, Helios Towers, and Seacom.
His last official declaration of financial interests was filed in Parliament’s register of members in 2017. In that disclosure, he reported no income beyond his state salary and listed his remaining holdings as Ntaba Nyoni Estates, Ntaba Nyoni Feedlot, Mondly Ltd, and Puma Sports Cars. He also owned several residential properties and was noted as a deferred beneficiary of three family trusts.
Despite these divestments, Ramaphosa’s private business dealings came under scrutiny in 2020, after $580,000 (R9.8 million) in foreign currency was stolen from furniture at his Phala Phala game farm in Limpopo. Former intelligence chief Arthur Fraser, aligned with Jacob Zuma, accused Ramaphosa of concealing the incident in the lead-up to his ANC leadership campaign in 2022. Although Parliament blocked a formal inquiry, Acting Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka later ruled that he had not breached the executive ethics code.
Ramaphosa served as deputy president of South Africa from May 2014 until February 2018, stepping into the presidency after Zuma’s resignation. Parliament confirmed him as head of state on 15 February 2018, and he delivered his first State of the Nation Address the following day.
In the 2024 general elections, the ANC’s support fell sharply to 40.2% of the vote, forcing the formation of a coalition government. Nonetheless, Ramaphosa secured re-election as president under this arrangement.
Before his return to full-time politics, his private sector shareholdings reflected a wide-ranging and influential corporate footprint, spanning industries from telecommunications and finance to consumer goods and infrastructure.
