Cyril Ramphosa was sworn in as South Africa's president yesterday in Cape Town – and for the first time, many South Africans are realising they know very little about his personal life. Some don't even know the name of his wife yet – Dr Tshepo Motsepe, sister of business mogul Patrice Motsepe.
The new first lady has a list of qualifications as long as former president Jacob Zuma's charge sheet. She holds an MBChB from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (that means she's a medical doctor...). She also did a Master's of Public Health at prestigious Harvard University in the U.S. In addition, she completed a certificate course in the social entrepreneurship certificate programme at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS).
Besides a career in which she has worked in hospitals in South Africa and Zimbabwe, the first lady is a philanthropist.
She is a patron of the South African Civil Society for Women's, Adolescents' and Children's Health (SACSoWACH), a former board member at the Vaal Reefs Disaster Trust, and has also served on the board of the Kids Haven Foundation
She is guided by the belief that "economic and social development is a prerequisite for communities to lead socially and economically productive lives'", as stated in the World Health Organisation's Alma Ata Declaration of 1978.
She and the president have four children – one of them is Tumelo, a businessman like his dad. He attended St Stithians College, then completed undergraduate studies at Damelin and his master's at Hult International Business School. He went on to be a business consultant for fast-food chain McDonald's South Africa.
Tumelo started StudEx Wild Life, which uses "Studex coin", a cryptocurrency based on endangered species conservation, which aims to protect them from hunting, poaching, predators and disease.
Our new first lady is also stylish – witness her two-piece Thula Sindi ensemble in Parliament on Thursday for her husband's swearing-in as president.