The emergence of South Africa’s Patrice Motsepe on Friday as the President of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has been seen as a welcome development for the game of football in Africa.
Currently, one of Africa’s richest men, Motsepe’s rise in prominence and wealth has not been lost on black people in a country where oppressive apartheid laws shut out the majority of the population from a good life, not to mention business opportunities, for many decades.
Just a few weeks ago, Motsepe, Ivorian Jacques Anouma, Mauritanian Ahmed Yahya and Senegalese Augustin Senghor were locked in an intriguing struggle for the presidency.
But the mantle of leadership has fallen on his feet and he’s expected to lead Africa football to success.
Related: South Africa’s Motsepe Elected New CAF President
However, Completesports Highlights seven things you need to know about him;
1. The genesis of Motsepe’s gradual rise to stardom began when he was born to Kgosi Augustine Motsepe, chief of the Mmakau branch of the Tswana people, who had previously been a schoolteacher and who was later a small businessman as the owner of a Spaza shop which was popular with black mineworkers.
2. In 1994, he became the first black partner at law firm Bowman Gilfillan in Johannesburg and then started a mining services contracting business.
3. In 2016, he launched a new private equity firm, African Rainbow Capital, focused on investing in Africa.
4. The father of three also holds a degree in mining and business law from Johannesburg’s University of the Witwatersrand.
5. Motsepe also has a stake in Sanlam, a listed financial services firm.
6. With an estimated net worth of $3bn (£2.15bn), Motsepe is today a mining magnate, investor, owner and President of Pretoria-based Mamelodi Sundowns, who have won a record 10 titles since South Africa’s Premier Soccer League started in 1996.
7. Patrice Motsepe, the founder and chairman of African Rainbow Minerals, became a billionaire in 2008 – the first black African on the Forbes list.
