South African banking billionaire Michiel le Roux under fire over political donations

South African billionaire Michiel le Roux, the founder of Capitec Bank Holdings Ltd., has again been targeted by the ruling African National Congress's youth wing over his companies' donations to the Democratic Alliance, the party's main partner in government.

Collen Malatji, president of the ANC Youth League, renewed his criticism of Capitec over the donations at a media briefing at the ANC's Johannesburg headquarters on Thursday. At the same briefing he called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to remove every DA minister from the cabinet.

"Now we are calling upon the GNU, the president (Cyril Ramaphosa), to immediately remove all ministers of the DA," Malatji said, referring to the Government of National Unity formed after the 2024 election. He accused the DA of pursuing a racist agenda, saying, "It has continued to serve its racist agenda, which they are funded for."

The attack follows a Constitutional Court ruling that ordered the Electoral Commission of South Africa to put 181 excluded ANC candidates back on the ballot for the Nov. 4 municipal elections. The DA had opposed the ANC's court challenge. DA spokeswoman Karabo Khakhau has said the ANC should accept responsibility for missing the nomination deadline.

A three-year feud

Malatji first went after Capitec in September 2023, when he urged South Africans to boycott the bank. "I'm going to make a clear call that all South Africans who are progressive must not bank with Capitec," he said at the time. "Because Capitec is anti-BEE, Capitec is anti-affirmative action and Capitec is anti-blacks." BEE refers to black economic empowerment, the government's policy for increasing black ownership of the economy.

Le Roux rejected the claims. "Capitec does not fund any political party," he said, adding that the money came from his own companies, Fynbos Ekwiteit and Fynbos Kapitaal, and not from the bank. He said he would consider giving to other parties that share his values. Capitec spokeswoman Bronwyn Pretorius said, "Capitec does not fund or associate with any political party, including the DA."

Solly Malatsi, who was then a DA spokesman and is now the minister of communications, said the league "couldn't be so wrong."

The donation record

Le Roux is the largest disclosed political donor in South Africa. Electoral Commission disclosures since the Political Party Funding Act took effect in 2021 show his three vehicles have given the DA at least 208 million rand ($12.5 million). Fynbos Ekwiteit accounts for 110.1 million rand, Fynbos Kapitaal for 98 million rand and the Fynbos Trust for 271,000 rand.

By the time of the 2023 boycott call, the Fynbos entities had already given the DA more than 50 million rand ($3 million), about 40% of everything the party had declared. Fynbos Ekwiteit gave a further 10 million rand ($600,000) in the final months of 2025.

The giving has grown ahead of next month's local elections. In the three months through June, Fynbos Ekwiteit donated 30 million rand ($1.8 million) and Fynbos Kapitaal 25 million rand ($1.5 million). The combined 55 million rand ($3.3 million) was 53% of the 104 million rand ($6.2 million) the DA declared for the quarter, and 47% of the 116.8 million rand ($7 million) declared by all parties.

The size of those gifts drew comment from My Vote Counts, a nonprofit that campaigns for transparency in party funding. The group said it was not alleging that the donations were unlawful, but argued that "transparency is only meaningful if voters can actually understand who is behind the money." It is challenging the funding law in court and wants limits on combined donations from related donors.

Le Roux co-founded Capitec in 2001 and was its first chief executive until 2004. He chaired the board from 2007 to 2016 and remains a director. Before Capitec, he ran Boland Bank and rose to managing director at Distillers Corp., the liquor company founded by Anton Rupert.

He owns about 11.3% of Capitec, a stake worth about 55.2 billion rand ($3.3 billion) at the bank's Oct. 9 share price. Forbes values his fortune at $3.8 billion, ranking him as Africa's 10th-richest person.