Billionaire Patrice Motsepe can grow the economy by 3% if he becomes president – Frans Cronje

If he were elected president, billionaire businessman Patrice Motsepe would be able to take the decisions necessary to grow South Africa’s economy by between 2% and 3%.

This is the view of political analyst Dr Frans Cronje, who shared this comment in a webinar hosted by Foord Asset Management on Thursday, 15 October.

Cronje’s comments come as speculation continues that Motsepe intends to run for ANC President.

While the businessman, who founded African Rainbow Capital and African Rainbow Minerals, has not made these intentions known, Cronje believes he is in the race.

In fact, Cronje said Motsepe’s camp is leading the ANC’s presidential race, based on polling data from Frans Cronje Private Clients.

Cronje dismissed concerns that Motsepe has previously denied wanting to run for president, saying his comments were misconstrued.

The comment most frequently cited as evidence of Motsepe’s denial was made at an African Rainbow Minerals results announcement.

There, Motsepe was asked whether he was interested in running for president, and he responded that he did not need to enter politics to make a contribution to South Africa.

According to Cronje, this does not constitute a denial. “We do not believe that he has denied, as is reported in the press, running,” he told Foord.

“In fact, the meeting in question was a results presentation where a silly journalist asked an entirely inappropriate question, ‘Are you planning to run for president?’.”

“How do you do that at someone’s results presentation? What if he had said yes? What would happen?”

Cronje said Motsepe’s response was simply that he has always said he was not interested in politics, that it would be a distraction from his companies, and that he’s not “handing out political hats”.

Cronje said that all of these things are true, but do not constitute an outright denial. This, along with other reasons that Cronje did not specify, makes him believe that Motsepe is in the race.

Another point of evidence cited in favour of Motsepe’s presidential run is a campaign website called PM27, which was launched in March 2026 and remains live.

Cronje on why Motsepe would make a good president

Cronje said he believes that Motsepe would make a good president for South Africa, as he has what it takes to make the decisions necessary to grow the economy.

This is largely based on Motsepe’s history as the president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), a role he has held since 2021.

Motsepe’s tenure at the CAF proved to Cronje that he is willing to make basic, if controversial, decisions that will improve an organisation.

South Africa needs the same type of leadership to grow its economy, with Cronje saying that a handful of “basic decisions” could see economic growth reach between 2% and 3%.

One of these decisions includes the full outsourcing of South Africa’s ports and rails to private operators, as opposed to the public-private partnership that was recently introduced. 

Another decision would be to remove the obstacles to the development of oil and gas in South Africa.

Cronje said South Africa has the resources to be among the top 20 oil and gas exporters in the world, yet has not reached this potential due to “absurd reasons”.

Cronje also listed refitting South Africa’s coal fleet among the decisions Motsepe could take, saying this would be “easy” since the infrastructure already exists.

These decisions, along with others Cronje mentioned, could see South Africa achieve an economic growth rate of between 2% and 3% a year.

Cronje believes Motsepe is capable and willing to take these decisions, but warned that the road to becoming ANC president is difficult.

This is because the ANC’s president is decided at the party’s annual conference, which Cronje described as “off the charts corrupt”.

He said Motsepe’s camp would want a “cleaner” road to the presidency, and may, therefore, bypass the ANC to get there.

If he does manage to find an alternative route, Cronje believes Motsepe would be a popular candidate, as many citizens and the private sector would welcome him.

“If we see this, it will only be because they found a way through and they believe that this is solid. We may only see this late into next year because timing will be so important,” Cronje said.

“It’s one of the scenarios we run for South Africa. It’s not one with the greatest probability, but if our sense is that the way through has been found, we will raise our probability of the Motsepe result.”

Cronje pointed out that Motsepe’s potential presidential race comes at a time when, for the first time in 50 years, nobody knows who will lead the ANC after President Cyril Ramaphosa.

The two most likely candidates, Deputy President Paul Mashatile and ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula, both have obstacles.

Cronje said Mashatile is unwell and may not be able to run, while Mbalula has discredited himself over the past few years.

Based on Cronje’s polling data, Motsepe is the favourite among these two and other candidates to become Ramaphosa’s successor.