‘Cyril was my sixth choice’ — Ramaphosa’s wife Tshepo Motsepe on how she met him

South Africa’s first lady Tshepo Motsepe has opened up about how she met President Cyril Ramaphosa, saying he was not among her top five candidates.

Motsepe spoke about her relationship with her husband during an interview on the Afrikaans lifestyle shows Pasella. A clip of the interview was shared on Twitter.

She said she met Ramaphosa on a blind date set up by her friends. She was 33 years old at time.

“My friends kept saying I was getting old and needed to settle down,” Motsepe said.

“He was not my first choice but my sixth.”

Before meeting his current wife, Ramaphosa was married from 1978 to 1989 to Hope Ramaphosa, with whom he has a son, and from 1991 to 1993 to the late businesswoman Nomazizi Mtshotshisa.

In 1996 he married Motsepe, the sister of billionaire Patrice Motsepe.

Speaking to the Sunday Times in 2017, Ramaphosa confessed about his extramarital affair with a Limpopo doctor.

“I had a relationship with only one person and it ended. I dealt with it with my wife. We now have a professional relationship.

“I am not a blesser. My wife and I support 54 young people every month, 30 females and 24 males. We are transforming people's lives.”

At the time Motsepe said news of the affair was a “smear campaign”.

“It is very sad what is happening. It's disappointing people have to go to such lengths to discredit a person. I am very upset about it. We have been together for a very long time and are happily married. I support and respect him and I love him.”

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