The former political prisoner who made millions in banking

Saki Macozoma went from being imprisoned at Robben Island alongside Nelson Mandela to being one of South Africa’s most successful businessmen. 

Although Macozoma was not dealt an easy hand, he capitalised on the opportunities available to him, ultimately earning a reputation as one of the country’s most respected business leaders.

Sakumzi ‘Saki’ Macozoma was born in Kwazakhele, Port Elizabeth, now Gqeberha, in 1957. 

According to the Weekend Post, as a young boy, Macozoma enjoyed watching trains as they slowly moved along the railway lines in Port Elizabeth, fascinated by the long rows of wagons.

Growing up during the height of Apartheid, Macozoma became involved in politics early on. In the mid-1970s, he became an organizer for the South African Students Movement.  

However, in 1977, he was sentenced to five years in prison at Robben Island for his involvement in a student protest. 

At Robben Island, he met many prominent political figures, including Nelson Mandela, who became his friend and mentor. 

“My first vivid memory is meeting Nelson Mandela in a cell on Robben Island, and he explained to me that he had been put in that cell in 1964, which was the year I started school,” he told the Sunday Morning Post.

“Just how long he had been there was very striking.” 

Macozoma was only 19 when he started his sentence but decided to use this as his “real university years”.

Initially, he didn’t even have a high school diploma, so that is where he started.  “I wrote my matric on Robben Island and passed,” he told POWER Talk’s Lerato Mbele.  

Afterwards, he was refused permission to study for three years, but he eventually started pursuing political science, economics and journalism at UNISA.

“I cannot say that being in prison when you are a teenager is a good idea, but I don’t regret one hour of that,” Macozoma further explained to the Post.

“I had the opportunity to read as much as possible, to debate as much as possible, to meet some of the most remarkable human beings that have lived in the 20th century… it was a great privilege.”

However, Macozoma lamented to Mbele that not everyone took advantage of the opportunities available to them, saying, “On Robben Island, there were people who had the same opportunity, the same books.”

“And when we were studying, some of them were saying, what’s the point of studying? Because socialism is coming, we’ll all be equal.”

“Ultimately, I think everybody has got to ask themselves, what is it that they have done or not done?  If I had chosen that route, I probably would have come out and been a marshal in the ANC.”

“But I chose, and I exerted myself, and I made sure that I was prepared even for the society that I wanted to contribute to it with some skills.” 

Macozoma was released in 1982 and spent the next years furthering his education, helping found anti-apartheid organisations, and working as Mandela’s media person.

He also worked briefly in the private sector from 1993 to 1994 as a business development manager for South African Breweries. 

In 1994, he was elected a member of the South African Parliament, a position which he held until 1996 when he entered the business world.

Notably, in 1996, he made waves when he became the first black managing director of Transnet, the company responsible at that time for South Africa’s rail network and harbours and South African Airways. 

In this role, he successfully turned the company’s losses into profits and advocated for the restructuring of parastatals.

He argued that selling off state assets would strengthen government finances, increase productivity, and create opportunities for black entrepreneurs to build successful, world-class businesses, helping South Africa integrate into the global economy.

In 2001, Saki Macozoma left Transnet to enter the private sector, becoming the Chief Executive Officer of New African Investments Limited, a publicly listed investment company. 

He also served as Deputy Chairman of Safika Holdings, a black-founded investment firm, where he used his experience from the early stages of black economic empowerment (BEE) to influence the business landscape.

One of his significant achievements was securing Safika’s involvement in the R5.4 billion BEE deal between Standard Bank and Liberty in 2004, which remains one of South Africa’s largest BEE transactions. 

“I think it would be ridiculous of me not to accept that I am a beneficiary of BEE,” he explained on POWER Talk.

“I’m also a co-creator of the BEE. I was part of the BEE commission. I was part of the ANC’s Economic Transformation Commission.” 

“But the notion that because one was part of those, therefore somebody then delivers in a wheelbarrow BEE opportunities to me or anybody else is nonsensical.”

Currently, Macozoma is the chairman of Safika Holdings, Tshipi é Ntle, and Ntsimbintle Mining, a Director at Volkswagen South Africa (VWSA), and a member of the Vodacom Group. 

He is a former chairman of Liberty Life Holdings and Deputy Chairman of the Standard Bank Group.

His leadership experience extends to serving as the past president of Business Leadership South Africa and the former chairman of the President’s Big Business Working Group, Business Trust, SA Tourism, the Council of Wits University, and the Council on Higher Education. 

He was also a member of the B20, the business sector of the G20, and was recognised by the World Economic Forum in 1997 as a Global Leader for Tomorrow.

Earlier in his career, Macozoma was the Managing Director of Transnet, chairman of the MTN Group, and member of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee for Communications. 

In 2012, he received the prestigious Calabash Award from Unisa in recognition of his contributions to civil society and his efforts in the fight against oppression during the apartheid era.

Today, Macozoma is highly respected for his political and economic contributions to South Africa. He believes in the power of positive influence, saying on POWER Talk, “Let’s find the good people in society and let’s mobilise those people.” 

“Let’s make sure that their influence preponderates over those that are the bad people in society.”