Patrice Tlhopane Motsepe, born 28 January 1962, is a South African mining billionaire businessman of Tswana descent. 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. In 2012, Motsepe was named South Africa’s richest man, topping the Sunday Times’ annual Rich List with an estimated fortune of R20.07 billion ($1 billion). In 2003, he became the owner of football club Mamelodi Sundowns. In 2013, he joined The Giving Pledge, committing to give half of his wealth to charitable causes.
Early years
Patrice was born to Augustine Motsepe, a schoolteacher turned small businessman, who owned a Spaza shop which was popular with black mine workers. It was from this shop that Motsepe learned basic business principles from his father as well as first-hand exposure to mining. His father later became a chieftain. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Swaziland and a law degree from the University of the Witwatersrand. He specialised in mining and business law. 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. In 1997, with gold prices at a low, he purchased marginal gold mines from AngloGold under favourable finance terms.
Motsepe is married to Dr. Precious Moloi, a physician and fashion entrepreneur. They have three children. He is the brother of Tshepo Motsepe and Bridgette Radebe, and the brother-in-law of both President Cyril Ramaphosa and Minister Jeff Radebe.
