Who is Ze Nxumalo, the South African businessman who paid $215,000 for a city manager's private jet trip to London

By the time Ze Nxumalo's name surfaced at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry in late 2025, he was already one of South Africa's more talked-about young businessmen. Not because of what he had built, which was real enough, but because of who he knew, who he had married, and the accumulating number of places where his name kept appearing at the wrong moments. The Sunday Times and News24 added the latest and most damaging one this week: the R3.35 million private jet trip to London that somehow ended up carrying Ekurhuleni's disgraced city manager and that he paid for out of his own funds.

Nxumalo, 32, was born on June 9, 1993, in northern Johannesburg and raised largely in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. Both his parents are academics. His father is a professor. He grew up in a household that valued education, attended Kearsney College, one of KwaZulu-Natal's most prestigious private schools, and went on to study law at the University of the Witwatersrand, where he completed an LLB. In his younger years he was also a competitive swimmer, competing alongside names of international standard. The discipline and public profile that came with serious competitive sport seem to have carried into his professional life, or at least into the confidence with which he has navigated rooms that less connected young men rarely access.

The Uber bet that started it all

His first serious commercial opportunity arrived in 2014 when Uber launched in South Africa. While most people were still debating whether ride-hailing would survive the taxi industry's resistance, Nxumalo was already buying vehicles. He borrowed funds, assembled a fleet, employed drivers, and built what became a scaled e-hailing operation at a moment when the market was essentially open to anyone willing to move fast enough.

That Uber play gave him enough commercial standing and industry knowledge to transition into advisory work for SA Taxi, the largest minibus taxi finance provider in the country. In that role, he became a lead negotiator on government relations and taxi strike negotiations, placing him at one of the most sensitive intersections of South African politics and commerce. The taxi industry in South Africa is not merely a transport sector. It is a political force, a patronage network and an economic ecosystem that successive governments have managed with extreme care. A 20-something year old with a law degree who could negotiate between the industry and government was a valuable asset to people on multiple sides of that conversation.

His investment company ZIG Holdings became the holding vehicle for stakes in various businesses. He launched Mobalyz, a digital mentorship and empowerment platform aimed at young South Africans. A Johnnie Walker advertisement named him as a success story. By 2019, he was being written up as one of the transport sector's most interesting rising figures.

Miss South Africa and the public profile

His marriage to Dr. Tamaryn Green, former Miss South Africa 2018 and Miss Universe first runner-up, accelerated his public profile considerably. Green is a medical doctor and a prominent public figure in her own right, and her relationship with Nxumalo put him into a different category of South African celebrity, visible at events, in magazines and on social media in ways that a taxi industry advisor without a celebrity connection rarely achieves.

That visibility has cut both ways. When celebrity blogger Musa Khawula began posting accusations of fraud and infidelity against Nxumalo in 2025, the story spread rapidly precisely because Nxumalo and Green were already recognisable public figures. Nxumalo filed a defamation complaint and pursued legal action. Khawula was charged with crimen injuria, violating the Cybercrimes Act and later contempt of court, and has remained in custody across multiple overlapping cases. Nxumalo said the legal action was necessary to defend his reputation. Critics noted that a police sergeant of the Gauteng Organised Crime Unit had testified at the Madlanga Commission that Nxumalo communicated with him via WhatsApp to identify and locate Khawula, sharing sensitive information outside official police channels.

The Madlanga Commission and the cartel allegation

In October 2025, an anonymous witness referred to as Witness A testified before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry linking Nxumalo to a chain of alleged connections: a police intelligence chief had identified Nxumalo as being connected to alleged drug cartel member Katiso "KT" Molefe, who was in turn allegedly connected to EFF leader Julius Malema, who was in turn allegedly close to suspended Deputy National Police Commissioner Shadrack Sibiya.

Nxumalo has not been formally charged with any crime in connection with these allegations. He has not been convicted of any offence. The witness provided no supporting documentation and did not elaborate on the nature of the alleged connections. But the testimony placed his name in the formal record of one of South Africa's most significant ongoing commissions of inquiry at the same moment he was already navigating the Khawula litigation.

The London flight

The most direct and concrete controversy emerged this weekend. News24 and the Sunday Times both reported that Nxumalo paid R3.5 million to charter a Falcon EX private jet from Onyx Aviation in July 2022, and that the jet was ultimately used by former Ekurhuleni city manager Imogen Mashazi, her husband and two friends to fly to London. Mashazi never declared the trip or its cost in her financial disclosures. She was subsequently suspended as Ekurhuleni city manager over a series of governance failures and the flight became one of the central exhibits in the Madlanga Commission's examination of her conduct.

Nxumalo responded to questions from the Sunday Times with a written statement in which he confirmed chartering the flight but denied it was chartered for Mashazi. "I was asked by Ntokozo Xaba to assist in getting a better quote for a London flight. I managed to get a quote from my service provider and a company I work with and act as a broker for, Onyx Aviation, for R3.9m and eventually R3.35m for the Falcon EX," he wrote. He said he transferred R1.5 million to Onyx on July 26 as part of the payment arrangement. Company registration records show Ntokozo Xaba became a director of XET Solutions in January 2026 before stepping down the following month. His association with the company at the time of the July 2022 flight has not been established.

What is established: Nxumalo paid R3.35 million for a private jet. Mashazi used that jet. Mashazi never disclosed it. Nxumalo, a businessman with ZIG Holdings investments, SA Taxi advisory connections and a history of navigating between transport industry interests and government officials, found himself explaining a payment of that scale on behalf of a city manager he says he had not chartered it for.

He remains active in business. He has not been charged with any offence in connection with the flight, the Madlanga testimony or the Khawula matter. He is 32 years old.