Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa was born on November 17, 1952, in Soweto, Johannesburg, the son of a police officer. He studied law at the University of the North and became active in the South African Students Organisation and Black People’s Convention. Apartheid authorities detained him in 1974 for organising pro-FRELIMO rallies and again after the 1976 Soweto uprising. He later completed legal studies through the University of South Africa.

His education, detentions and early activism are documented by the South African Government’s official biography and the Presidency.

Ramaphosa joined the Council of Unions of South Africa as a legal adviser and in 1982 became the first general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers. He built it into one of the country’s most powerful unions and led major industrial action. In 1991 he was elected ANC secretary-general and headed the organisation’s negotiating team during the transition from apartheid to democracy.

The union and negotiation milestones appear in the official government career record.

Following the 1994 democratic election, Ramaphosa chaired the Constitutional Assembly responsible for drafting South Africa’s new constitution. Although sometimes discussed as a possible successor to Nelson Mandela, he left senior politics in 1996 and entered business. This shift ultimately made him one of South Africa’s wealthiest politicians, providing capital and corporate experience before his later return to government.

His constitutional role and move into business are recorded by the Presidency and described in Euronews’s career profile.

Ramaphosa returned to frontline politics, became ANC deputy president in 2012, deputy president of South Africa in 2014 and ANC president in 2017. Parliament elected him national president after Jacob Zuma resigned in February 2018. He won a full term after the 2019 election and was re-elected in 2024 through support from a broader coalition after the ANC lost its parliamentary majority. He also chaired the African Union during the COVID-19 period.

The official sequence is set out by the South African Government; his 2024 re-election and current salary are discussed by BusinessTech.

Ramaphosa received the Olof Palme Prize in 1987 for his labour and anti-apartheid work, was included in the Time 100 in 2007 and received South Africa’s Order of the Baobab in Silver in 2009 for his contribution to negotiations and the constitution. His reputation as a negotiator has remained central to his political image, though his later corporate wealth complicated his relationship with the labour movement that launched him.

The awards are listed on his official government profile.

Unlike an entertainer, Ramaphosa does not build wealth through conventional endorsements. His commercial value came from investment stakes, board positions, empowerment transactions and franchise rights before his return to high office. The McDonald’s South Africa interest and financial holdings were business assets, not sponsorship payments. As president, outside commercial activity is constrained by ethics and disclosure rules, and his government salary forms only a small part of wealth accumulated earlier.

The distinction between investment wealth and presidential income is supported by BusinessTech’s financial history.

Ramaphosa founded Shanduka Group in 2001 as a black-owned investment holding company. Its portfolio included interests in mining, finance, telecommunications, Coca-Cola bottling and McDonald’s South Africa. He also held senior roles connected with companies including MTN and Lonmin. Before becoming deputy president, he exited his business interests in 2014 to address conflicts between private ownership and public office.

Shanduka’s sectors are summarised by Forbes’s profile. The Presidency explicitly states that he exited the business in November 2014 in an official government statement.

Ramaphosa has been associated with property and livestock interests, most prominently the Phala Phala game farm in Limpopo. The farm breeds and sells high-value game, but Ramaphosa has said it operates largely at a loss and is funded from his own resources. Public reporting also points to wealth held through investment structures after the Shanduka era, but current beneficial ownership, debt and private valuations are not comprehensively disclosed.

Ramaphosa’s statement about Phala Phala’s losses is reported by News24.