Patron, Cyril Ramaphosa Foundation
President Cyril Ramaphosa
President Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa was born on 17 November 1952 in Johannesburg. His family was moved from Western Native Township to Soweto in 1962, where he attended Tshilidzi Primary School. He completed high school at Mphaphuli High School in Sibasa, Venda in 1971.
President Ramaphosa registered to study law at the University of the North in 1972, where he became involved in student politics, joining the South African Student Organisation (SASO) and the Black People’s Convention (BPC). He was detained in solitary confinement for 11 months in 1974 under Section 6 of the Terrorism Act for organising pro-Frelimo rallies. He was detained for the second time and held for six months in 1976 following the Soweto student uprising.
While a law clerk for a Johannesburg firm of attorneys, he continued his studies through the University of South Africa (UNISA), obtaining his B. Proc degree in 1981. He then joined the Council of Unions of South Africa (CUSA) as a legal advisor.
In 1982, at the request of CUSA, he founded the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) with James Motlatsi and Elijah Barayi and became its first General Secretary.
As NUM General Secretary he was instrumental in the establishment of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and played a prominent role in the Mass Democratic Movement (MDM) when COSATU joined the United Democratic Front (UDF).
He was later appointed chairperson of the Reception Committee to receive Rivonia trialists who had been imprisoned on Robben Island. He served as chairperson of the National Reception Committee, which coordinated arrangements for the release of Nelson Mandela.
Following the unbanning of the ANC, he was elected ANC Secretary General in 1991 at its first legal national conference in South Africa in over 30 years. He became head of the ANC’s negotiation team at the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) and the subsequent multi-party talks.
Following South Africa’s first democratic elections on 27 April 1994, he became a Member of Parliament and was elected as Chairperson of the Constitutional Assembly. In that position, he was responsible for overseeing the drafting of South Africa’s democratic Constitution. In 2009, his contribution to this was recognised with the award of the National Order of the Baobab in Silver.
President Ramaphosa announced in 1996 that he was to resign from parliamentary politics to join New Africa Investments Limited. In 2001, he established the Shanduka Group as a Black-owned investment holding company, which established Shanduka Foundation in 2004 as its CSI arm, the forerunner of Cyril Ramaphosa Foundation. Cyril Ramaphosa Foundation was established as an independent NPO in 2015 following President Ramaphosa’s divestment from the Shanduka Group. He served as its Chairperson until 2020, and since then as its Patron.
President Ramaphosa has served numerous prestigious international roles and has received several awards, including the Olof Palme prize in October 1987.
In December 2012, he was elected ANC Deputy President and Deputy President of the Republic of South Africa on 25 May 2014.
In December 2017, he was elected ANC President and sworn in as President of the Republic of South Africa on 15 February 2018.