Cyril Ramaphosa, the 5th president of South Africa, has been married three times and has five children from his three marriages.
His first wife, Hope, gave birth to his son, Andile. His second child, a daughter named Tulisa, was born to his second wife, Nomazizi Mtshotshisa, who was a businesswoman before her death.
Cyril Ramaphosa’s third, fourth, and fifth children were born to his third wife, Dr. Tshepo Motsepe, the sister of South African billionaire Patrice Motsepe. They are Tumelo, Mashudu, and Keneilwe.
These children, who form South Africa’s first family, include a businessman, a crypto enthusiast, and a fitness buff. Three of the children are daughters, one of whom was born in 1992. The president’s other daughter is an architect based in the United States, while her younger sibling is a student at Cape Town University.
Cyril Ramaphosa’s First Child was Born from his Decade-long Marriage to Hope Ramaphosa
During Cyril’s first marriage to Hope Ramaphosa, which lasted from 1978 to 1989, he welcomed a son. The boy named Andile Ramaphosa was born sometime in 1981 and is about 43 years old now.
Though Cyril and Hope’s marriage ended in divorce, the first wife of S.A.’s president still has his back. According to Hope, she knew her ex-husband for a long time before they married. They also spent more than a decade together, and all those times couldn’t just be thrown away.
As the firstborn son of his father, Andile has been quite outspoken, especially against political rivals of his father. When Julius Malema accused Cyril of physically abusing Hope, his mother, Andile, refuted the accusations.
However, he is more concerned and invested in business than he is in politics. After earning a bachelor’s degree in accounting and statistics from the University of Cape Town, he went on to add two master’s degrees. The first he earned was in economics from Fudan University, and then another from the NYU Stern School of Business.
Andile Ramaphosa, the first of Cyril Ramaphosa’s children, works for Blue Crane Capital in Johannesburg, aside from other business strides that he has taken over the years.
He unfortunately got on the bad side of the press in 2019 when he was involved in a fraud case. According to the reports, he was linked to the Bosasa Corporation incident that involved a transfer of R2 million to him.
He initially denied being part of the fraudulent activity but later confessed that he only made a business mistake.
Andile is a married man who met his wife, the daughter of the Ugandan former Prime Minister. They met in an Asian country where his wife, Bridget Birungi, was studying and he was working. Their marriage, which happened in Uganda in 2018, the same year his father assumed power, was a lavish ceremony that saw very few important guests in attendance.
Yoweri Museveni, the current president of Uganda, was one of the important guests at the wedding.
Tulisa is the Second of Cyril Ramaphosa’s Children
The first daughter of South Africa’s president since 2018 is Tulisa, or Thulisa. She was born from the brief union of Cyril Ramaphosa and the late businesswoman, Nomazizi Mtshotshia.
Nomazizi and Cyril were married from 1991 to 1993, and they had their daughter in 1992. The reason for the end of their brief marriage was not made known, although there were allegations that came up against the president, which suggests it may have led to the divorce.
Tulisa has been quite private and prefers to stay out of the media’s way, considering how important her father is.
Her mother died sometime in 2008 after a long battle with cancer. Before her death, the businesswoman held the position of Chairperson of the Telkom Board. She was the first African woman to have achieved that feat.
Tulisa is the only daughter of the former Midi Chairman.
South Africa’s 5th President, Cyril Ramaphosa, has three More Children with his Present Wife
In 1996, Cyril went on to get married a third time, three years after divorcing his second wife. He got married to a South African physician and businesswoman, Tshepo Motsepe.
If you think the Motsepe name rings a bell, then you must have heard about one of South Africa’s billionaires, Patrice Motsepe. He is a businessman whose wealth grew from exploits in mining and other businesses.
Cyril Ramaphosa’s third wife and the mother of his three last children is also a medical doctor who graduated from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. She has quite an impressive resume, but above all, she is the current first lady of South Africa.
The first of Tshepo and Cyril’s children is Tumelo.
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Tumelo Ramaphosa
He is the most known of the Ramaphosa siblings, and that is because he is very active on social media. There, this third child of S.A.’s president shares pictures of himself, and being a fitness enthusiast with an enviable physique and great fashion sense, he has a lot of women drooling over his pictures.
But there is more to him.
Aside from his muscular, toned body and other drool-worthy images shared on social media, Tumelo is also a businessman. He is the CEO and founder of StudEX Group, which has a subsidiary company known as StudEX Wildlife. This company’s aim is basically to preserve and protect the lives of endangered animals.
He has shared how passionate he is about animals in a number of posts on Instagram. In some of these posts, he shares pictures of his cows and meat. Tumelo started his business journey as a cattle trader and has since grown into many other things. He even worked at McDonald’s as an assistant store manager back in 2014.
The serial entrepreneur also founded StudEXMeat, a business venture that supplies wagyu steaks and cuts to many countries.
He has a master’s degree from Hult International Business School, San Francisco. The degree is in international business, and this has helped him manage his numerous pursuits.
Thumelo is also an all-around cryptopreneur who was part of a group of organizers responsible for the Unlocking Blockchain Africa Conference back in 2018.
He is also a key member of Chankura Global Crypto Currency Exchange and GAD. Additionally, he works as a block mesh and Alpha Crypto Moo consultant.
Concerning his love life, Cyril Ramaphosa’s third child, nicknamed ‘National Bae, has been romantically linked to Kelebogile Shomang. Some gossips even speculate that, with how smitten they have been about each other, they will be set to walk down the aisle soon.
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Keneilwe Ramaphosa
The second child from Cyril and Tshepo’s union is Keneilwe. She attended Inscappe Design College in 2014 and graduated with an Architectural Drafting Certificate, Architectural Drafting, and Architectural CAD/CADD.
From January 2015 to December 2017, Keneilwe attended the University of Cape Town, where she earned a Bachelor of Architectural Studies degree. She then proceeded to earn a master’s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation in May 2022.
She has a lot of experience in her field of study and has even worked as a junior architect for companies such as OMA and Curtis + Ginsberg Architects. As of September 2023, she worked as a freelance architect and was open to any new roles in her field.
Keneilwe currently lives in the Netherlands. As for her relationship status, it hasn’t been made public yet.
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Mashudu Ramaphosa
She is the youngest of the Ramaphosa children and is reportedly still at the university. Mashudu, just like her older siblings, was a student at Cape Town University as of 2018.
Her discipline of study is unknown, as she is as private as her older sisters. However, as a member of the first family, it may not take so long to find out some details about her.
Some Quick Facts about Cyril Ramaphosa’s Children
1. They Don’t Seem Interested in Politics
From the information revealed above about the first children, it doesn’t seem like any of them have an interest in politics. Of the five children, four of whom are adults, none have indicated interest in following in Cyril’s footsteps.
According to answersafrica.com, a relative of the family revealed that the South African president taught his children to choose their own paths. He trained them not to dwell on their own achievements but rather to carve out their own success in whatever field they were interested in.
Definitely, the kids would be involved in some affairs of the country, but only in their capacity as first children. An example of such a time is explained above when Andile rose to his father’s defense against abuse claims.
If, in the future, any of the Ramaphosa kids decide to tow the path of politics, Cyril would be the best person to guide them through.
2. Are there More Children in the Cyril Ramaphosa Brood?
There is a lot of confusing information on the web about the particular number of children Cryril has. This confusion stems from the fact that his third wife, Tshepo Motsepe, is said to have birthed four children for him.
These supposed four children consist of two boys and two girls. However, this isn’t accurate because the supposed second son of the couple was named Andile, who is the president’s first child with his first wife.
Sites such as Tshepo Motsepe’s Wikipedia page, briefly.co.za, and many others carry this piece of information.
However, for clarity’s sake, Andile isn’t a product of Cyril’s marriage to his third wife.
Also, there are no more children in the first family other than the ones discussed above.
3. Have they given him Any Grandchildren?
It is known that Andile has been married, and even though his wedding wasn’t a secret, the marriage and what goes on in it seem to be.
The couple has yet to reveal if they have welcomed any children, which would make Cyril a grandfather. It could be that there are already little Ramaphosa grandchildren in the brood, but they have been kept private.
4. They are Very Private
One central feature of the first children is their knack for privacy. Safe for their business ventures, which put them in the limelight, there isn’t much to know about them.
Andile, Tulisa, Tumelo, Neneilwe, and Mashudu all respect their personal lives and choose to keep them private.
Evidently, the most private among them are the first and last daughters, Tulisa and Mashudu. The other three have provided some information about themselves to the public.
READ ALSO: Paul Mashatile: 10 Things To Know About Deputy President Of South Africa
5. Did their Father Physically Abuse any of his 3 Wives?
A parliament meeting held in 2020 over the issue of women’s abuse led to an uproar. What initially started as a back-and-forth between ANC MP Boy Mamabolo and the EFF leader, Julius Malema, soon turned to Ramaphosa.
It seemed like a can of worms was opened after Mamabolo interrupted his talk and alleged that Julius was a wife-beater. Malema, who tried to ignore the accusation, soon blurted out that he had never hit his wife. He further went on to insinuate that President Cyril Ramaphosa was a wife-beater.
According to Julius’s allegation, Cyril used to beat his late wife, Nomazizi Mtshotshia. It was also alleged that this may have caused the sudden end of their marriage back in 1993. Julius further alleged that Nomazizi confided in President Jacob Zuma about the abuse. He insisted that the truth about Ramaphosa’s history of abuse be made public so his late wife would rest in peace.
As he ranted, Julius Malema was asked to leave the room.
In the wake of this, the president’s first son and wife were quick to defend him. Hope Ramaphosa stated that in all her years of knowing Cyril, he never lifted a finger to hit her. Still defending her ex-husband, Andile’s mother said that he wasn’t the type of man who would abuse a woman.
South Africa’s president did not respond to the accusation directly. Instead, he apologized to South Africans for how the proceeding turned out.
In response to the apology the father of five gave, Julius Malema also tendered his own apology to the president. He explained that he was pushed to the wall and acted out of defense.
