Billionaire businessman and CAF president Patrice Motsepe has unofficially entered the ANC succession race. A campaign to install Motsepe as the party’s leader at its elective conference in December 2027 has moved into visible operation.
Dubbed “PM27 Savumelana”—a play on Motsepe’s initials—the campaign is gaining steam with T-shirts branded “PM27 Savumelana” already in production and distribution plans underway—despite Motsepe’s public insistence that he is “not available” for the position.
This as he sticks to the ANC tradition that discourages open campaigning for top leadership positions.
While it’s not clear who the official face of the campaign is, Sunday World has learnt from two highly placed sources that Bejani Chauke, a former advisor to President Cyril Rampahosa who was deeply involved in the successful CR17 campaign that propelled Ramaphosa to power, is involved in efforts to have Motsepe succeed him.
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This would pit the popular billionaire, who has interests in mining, insurance, and banking—and whose family owns Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club—against Deputy President Paul Mashatile for the ANC’s top job, positioning him as a future president of the country.
A video taken from inside a printing company in Johannesburg, where the T-shirts branded with the supposed Motsepe campaign slogan were being printed in batches of thousands, has been doing the rounds. The T-shirts are expected to be distributed to ANC members sympathetic to the campaign as early as next week.
While Motsepe has publicly stated that he is not interested in becoming ANC president, managers and supporters of PM27 are pressing ahead in the hope that he will raise his hand at the right time, in line with ANC conference guidelines.
Questions have been raised over whether Motsepe is an ANC member in good standing, but a person close to the campaign said they had verified his membership at a Johannesburg branch. The push has now developed into a more formalised campaign with coordinating teams at national and provincial levels. This week alone, more than 50 000 PM27-branded T-shirts were printed at the Joburg printing company to be distributed across the country.
Sunday World sent a request for a quotation to the contracted Johannesburg-based printing company, Seema Printing and Projects (SPP), to independently test the pricing and scale of production. A quotation listed printing for 1 000 round-neck T-shirts at a cost of R50 000.
Based on that pricing, a print run of 50 000 units would cost in the region of R2.5-million, raising questions over the funding muscle behind what is being pitched publicly as a grassroots initiative.
The emerging campaign material is now forcing a new political tension into the open: Motsepe’s public position that he is “not available” is being tested against visible branding, manufacturing activity and distribution claims linked to a lobby intent on drafting him regardless.
PM27 convenor Sello Shai-Morule said the campaign has entered what he called the “momentum building” phase and described it as an ANC cadres forum with coordinating teams at national and provincial levels. “While Dr Motsepe has publicly clarified that he is not actively seeking the ANC presidency, our forum reflects the widespread desire among members and citizens for a leader who embodies unity, credibility, and integrity.”
Shai-Morule said the campaign’s slogan, “PM27”, stands for “Patrice Motsepe ANC President” and is pegged to the ANC’s 2027 elective conference, which PM27 supporters believe will end with Motsepe delivering the closing address as ANC president.
He said the campaign’s leadership includes Thulani Ngesi as deputy convenor, Ayanda Ngangelizwe as forum secretary, Mbulelo Mpande as national head of fundraising, Welcome Nkuna as national security head, and Charles Makola tasked with policy, strategy and research, alongside nine provincial chapters.
Competing versions of how many PM27 shirts have been produced are now fuelling questions about the campaign’s true size and financial backing.
One source claimed a mini cargo truck—estimated to carry between 4 000 and 7 000 shirts—dropped a first batch on January 1, with another batch expected. The source said printing began on Monday. By Friday, when Sunday World visited the premises, the cargo had already been collected.
However, Tokomi Seema, owner of SPP in Doornfontein West, rejected claims of large-scale printing and said his company produced only 50 “sample” shirts for clients he did not know. “I don’t know those people who came to my company to print PM27 T-shirts… They came in two cars with the Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal registration number plates,” he said, adding that he initially assumed the order was linked to Mashatile’s lobbying ahead of next year.
Shai-Morule denied that the campaign had prominent funders at this stage, despite the extent of the branded material being linked to PM27. He also suggested that the printing was not coordinated by the forum.
“PM27 does not receive any funding from any quarter whatsoever. It is sustained by men and women of integrity who freely give their time, skills and energy without expectation of material reward. Like all genuine grassroots campaigns, it is powered by comrades who understand that this effort is bigger than any individual interest,” he said.
Speaking at an engagement with the SA National Editors Forum in October, Motsepe distanced himself from speculation about his political ambitions in the ANC, saying he could contribute without holding office and would support whichever leaders are chosen through democratic processes.
In June last year, the ANC secretary-general, Fikile Mbalula, another presidential hopeful, slammed talk of a Motsepe 2027 ANC campaign.
“There are discussions about people whom we don’t know if they have branches, and such people are being paraded as the future leaders of the ANC because they have money. The ANC is not similar to football, you work hard to lead the party.
“It’s not [Mamelodi] Sundowns or [Orlando] Pirates. You just wake up tomorrow and want to contest with Irvin Khoza or Kaizer Motaung? You must stop comparing the ANC with football. If someone wants to lead the ANC, they must prove it here.
“People who keep on saying we want Motsepe don’t even know if he is a member of the ANC or not. Yes, we ‘chow’ his money, as he puts it, from time to time. There should be discipline in the ANC, and if Motsepe wants to lead the party, he must show up here and prove that he is a member of the ANC so that we can face him off.”
