How Johann Rupert and Koos Bekker cut a secret deal with Cyril Ramaphosa to save Vodacom and MTN in the 1990s
Billionaires Africa | 25.08.2026 19:11
Johann Rupert and Koos Bekker were sitting across from Cyril Ramaphosa with a problem that needed solving fast. The Apartheid government had just issued mobile telecoms licenses to Vodacom and MTN, and South Africa's trade unions were furious. They wanted the incoming ANC government to declare it would not honor those licenses when it came to power. If that happened, two companies that would go on to become two of Africa's largest corporations would have been dead before they properly started.
