Johannesburg - President Cyril Ramaphosa is known as the “buffalo man” in some quarters, but his penchant for wildlife is also replicated by the new first family. The Ramaphosas are seen in pictures from their children’s social media accounts, in the wild, in the company of gorillas and the rare Ugandan ankole longhorn cows.
One of the Ramaphosa sons, Tumelo - who became a social media sensation this week and has had women swooning at his buff physique - runs a business that seeks to preserve wildlife, including buffaloes. He also sells wildlife through his company StudEx Wildlife, a cryptocurrency-based business that seeks to preserve and protect endangered wildlife from hunters, poachers, predators and disease.
Last year, Ramaphosa sold rare ankole longhorn cows, buffaloes and antelopes for a combined R13million, Bloomberg reported.
The president and his wife, Dr Tshepo Motsepe, have four children, sons Andile and Tumelo and daughters, Keneilwe (Kiki) and Mashudu. Ramaphosa also has an older daughter, Tulisa, from his first marriage to Nomazizi Mtshotshisa, who died 10 years ago. They were divorced at her time of death.
With Ramaphosa taking over as the new sheriff at the Union Buildings, attention quickly turned to the children of the first family.
Some women on social media have labelled the oldest son, Tumelo, as the new “National Bae”, sharing his pictures widely.
“R1 million bounty for anyone who hooks me up with Tumelo ‘Yaka’ Ramaphosa,” joked Nkgono Neria on Twitter.
But the 30-year-old Tumelo quickly told her he was taken. “I am not interested, I have a beautiful girlfriend,” wrote Tumelo.
He appeared to be basking in the attention, responding to a number of women and also had time to hit back at those who were concerned about his tattoos.
“So what, you are not my mother. I’m not trying to be the president’s son. I’m an entrepreneur doing my own thing. I’m not trying to fit your perfect picture. My mother loves me with all them tats, you don’t have to,” he said.
Tumelo appears the most outgoing of the Ramaphosa children, posting publicly on his Instagram page. His younger sisters are more reserved, with private pages and profiles with limited information.
Like his dad, Tumelo’s penchant for buffaloes and rare cattle beams through on his Instagram account, which now has more than 4000 followers.
He regularly posts pictures and videos with his girlfriend, Kelebogile Shomang, at the game reserve where the animals are bred.
Ramaphosa’s daughters have largely kept out of the public eye and little is known about them. A relative revealed they were students at the University of Cape Town. They attended high school at the prestigious Roedean College in Parktown, Joburg.
Andile, who has business interests in infrastructure development, bagged his MBA from Fudan in Shanghai and has a master’s degree from New York University’s Stern School of Business. He does not say much on social media but he did publicly come to Ramaphosa’s defence last year when allegations surfaced that he was physically abusive towards his wife.
A family member, Ben Ramaphosa, said the first children were hard-working people. “Their father never wanted them to rely on his businesses, so he taught them to stand up and build their own profiles,” said Uncle Ben.
“Even with the young girls, they are not spoilt brats, they respect everyone in the family,” he said.
Ben revealed that the family met for a family gathering at the Ramaphosas’ Hyde Park home in Joburg last weekend. It was the first time the family had met in the new year due to Ramaphosa’s ANC commitments.
At family gatherings, no talk about politics is allowed. “When he is with the family, he just wants to relax and catch up on other things but not politics.
“We congratulated him but he didn’t want to chat more about it. Even other members who kept on asking political questions, he didn’t entertain that. He changed the topic and spoke about something else, he has always been like that,” he said.