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Wealthy South Africans donated about R6 billion in cash and in kind to charitable causes in 2025, according to data reported by BusinessDay. The figure does not include the R7.2 billion charitable buyout of Curro, South Africa's largest private school network, by the foundation of billionaire Jannie Mouton. That single gift is larger than everything the country's other major donors gave in a year.
The data also shows a change in who is giving. More than a third of donors were under the age of 40, and women and Black South Africans made up the largest share of givers. Beyond writing checks, donors spent more than 3 million volunteer hours on the causes they support, a sign of what the report describes as a transfer of wealth and responsibility from one generation to the next.
Among the country's best-known philanthropists are Capitec co-founder Michiel le Roux, mining billionaire Patrice Motsepe and members of the Oppenheimer family.
The biggest donation in South Africa's history
The Jannie Mouton Foundation announced its offer for Curro in August 2025. It plans to buy every share, take the company off the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and turn it into a non-profit, putting all surpluses into bursaries, new schools and education projects. The offer worked out to R13 a share, a premium of about 60% to Curro's recent trading price.
"This is a game-changing R7.2 billion donation in quality education," said Jan Mouton, the founder's eldest son and a trustee of the foundation, calling it possibly the largest philanthropic contribution in South Africa's history. The foundation is funding the deal largely with its holdings of shares in Capitec and PSG Financial Services.
Jannie Mouton, known in South African business circles as the "Boere Buffett," founded PSG Group and played a central role in building Capitec, PSG Financial Services and Curro. He set up the foundation in 2017 with 10.5 million PSG shares.
The Curro deal is unusual because it turns a listed company into a permanent charitable asset. It adds 189 working schools to the foundation's portfolio rather than funding projects one at a time.
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