Billionaire Patrice Motsepe plays down ANC presidency run as polls put him ahead

Patrice Motsepe, South Africa's first Black billionaire, again declined to say whether he will run for president of the governing African National Congress, insisting his best contribution to the country lies outside politics, even as polls show him leading the field to succeed Cyril Ramaphosa.

Asked directly in a recent France 24 interview whether he intended to seek the ANC leadership, the mining magnate sidestepped the question. He said he was clear that the best place for him to keep contributing to a country that had given him so much was away from political office.

Motsepe repeated a line he said he had also given to Bloomberg, arguing that he did not need a political platform to serve South Africa. The better approach, he suggested, was to maintain relationships across the board and leave campaigning to others.

He was careful not to close the door entirely, but framed his role as that of a supporter rather than a candidate. The ANC would have a good leader, he said, and he would back whoever that turned out to be. He added that his companies give money to all political parties and that he would keep working with all of them.

The comments are the latest in a series of denials from a businessman whose name has been pushed forward by others. Motsepe has consistently said he has no plans to run, even as a draft-style campaign has gathered around him.

That campaign, known as PM27, short for Patrice Motsepe 2027, first surfaced about two years ago and resurfaced this year. In March, a PM27 website appeared, openly promoting him as a candidate for the ANC leadership at the party's national conference in December 2027 and calling on South Africans to rally behind him as a unifying, ethical choice. The site was later taken down, though the speculation has not faded.

Motsepe has not endorsed the effort, and there is no indication he is behind it. The gap between his repeated denials and the organised push to draft him has become part of the intrigue surrounding the succession.

Polling suggests the interest is real. According to Frans Cronje, who works with the Social Research Foundation, a body that surveys South African political opinion, Motsepe led the field of possible successors to Ramaphosa in the last quarter of 2025 with 23 percent, ahead of Fikile Mbalula on 19 percent and Paul Mashatile on 13 percent, at a time when voters did not even regard him as a candidate.

His numbers rose sharply after the PM27 site appeared. Cronje said Motsepe's support climbed to 39 percent in the first quarter of 2026, far ahead of Mbalula on 14 percent and Mashatile on 12 percent. Among ANC voters, the lead was wider still, with 47 percent favouring Motsepe against 19 percent for Mbalula and 16 percent for Mashatile. Cronje said that if Motsepe's team could navigate the party's electoral conference in December 2027, he would likely be the candidate and would win.

The succession matters more than usual because of the ANC's weakened position. The party lost its parliamentary majority for the first time in 2024 and now governs in a coalition, so the contest to replace Ramaphosa as ANC leader will help shape who carries the party into the next national election. Supporters see a business figure with no factional baggage as a fresh start, while critics question whether a billionaire who made his fortune through Black economic empowerment is the right standard-bearer for a party grappling with unemployment and inequality.

Any bid would carry an obvious complication. Motsepe is Ramaphosa's brother-in-law, as the president is married to his sister, Dr. Tshepo Motsepe, a family tie that has long connected the businessman to the party's leadership.

Motsepe built the fortune that made his name in mining. He started Future Mining, a contract mining company, in 1994, formed ARMgold in 1997 and listed it on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 2002. A 2003 merger with Avmin and Harmony Gold created African Rainbow Minerals, the group he still chairs.

His interests have since spread well beyond gold. Motsepe is executive chairman of African Rainbow Minerals, deputy chairman of the insurer Sanlam and chairman of Harmony Gold, and he founded the investment vehicles Ubuntu-Botho Investments, African Rainbow Capital and African Rainbow Energy and Power. Bloomberg's billionaires index puts his net worth at about $4.3 billion.

He is also one of the most powerful figures in world football. Motsepe is president of the Confederation of African Football and a vice president of FIFA, and he previously owned and chaired Mamelodi Sundowns, one of South Africa's most successful clubs. His philanthropy, run largely through the Motsepe Foundation, has made him a familiar public figure well beyond the boardroom.

The questions, for now, outpace the answers. Motsepe keeps insisting he is content to serve from outside politics, the draft campaign keeps his name in play, and the polls keep him at the front of a race he says he is not running. Whether that holds until the ANC gathers to choose its next leader in December 2027 is a question South African politics has yet to settle.