• On Wednesday, 17 November, President Cyril Ramaphosa celebrated his 71st birthday
• Ramaphosa reportedly spent his special day in office and revealed his birthday wish was to fight corruption, amongst other things
• Ramaphosa's son, Tumelo, posted a clip of the president dancing to celebrate his birthday
• In honour of the president's birthday, Briefly News takes a look at the five Ramaphosa children who could not spend time with him

The South African president spent his birthday working, but he shared his wish with Mzansi. According to TimesLIVE, Ramaphosa's spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, shared what the head of state wanted for his birthday.

"To continue with the progress being made in rolling back unemployment, dealing with crime, and the various reforms that are currently under way. Basically, put all irons in the fire," said Ramaphosa said.

Since President Ramaphosa could not spend some time with his family, Briefly News decided to take a closer look at the people who sacrificed their time with him for the greater good of the country - his children.

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s relationship history

Ramaphosa has five children from different relationships. President Cyril Ramaphosa and Dr Tshepo Motsepe have been married for 25 years. It appears that President Ramaphosa and his wife prefer to keep the details of their relationship private. Even though it is known they were married in 1996, there is no information on how they met.

However, Dr Tshepo isn’t Ramaphosa’s first wife. In 1978, President Ramaphosa married a woman named Hope. The couple was married for just over a decade before getting a divorce in 1989. Two years after his first failed marriage, the businessman tied the knot to his second wife, Nomazizi Mtshotshisa. However, the couple was not even married for three years before calling it quits in 1993. Ramaphosa was blessed with a child, Tulisa, during his second marriage to Nomazizi. In 1996, the head of state said "I do" to Dr Tshepo, and they have been together ever since.

The first family consists of 5 children

The president has five lovely kids. Three of the children are from his current marriage with Dr Tshepo, while the other two are from his previous marriages with the late Nomazizi Mtshotshisana and Hope Ramaphosa, who is a renowned businesswoman.

Ramaphosa’s children’s names are Tumelo, Andile, Kiki, Mashindu, and Tulisa.

Andile Ramaphosa

Technically, Ramaphosa’s eldest child should be Andile. However, there are conflicting reports about who Andile’s mother is.

According to Wikipedia, Andile was born during Ramaphosa’s first marriage to Hope. However, Wiki South Africa, amongst other sites, reported Dr Tshepo is his mother. Looking at the facts, if Andile is indeed the eldest Ramaphosa child, then his mother would be Hope Ramaphosa.

While his sisters prefer to stay out of the spotlight, Andile has been the centre of attention several times - and not always for the right reasons. The president’s son was caught in a scandal over a multi-million-rand BOSASA deal. In 2019, Andile came clean about the BOSASA deal that has been the cause of so much controversy.

President Cyril Ramaphosa's son confirmed the details of a R2 million business deal, which he says he completely regrets. Blue Crane Capital, Andile's company, signed an 'advisory mandate' with the infamous company in December 2017.

Originally, he would receive a monthly retainer of R150 000, which was later increased to R230 000. Andile's company would provide advisory work on a series of contracts in Uganda and Kenya, which, according to News24, would potentially be worth billions of rands.

In 2020, Andile once again made headlines when his R6 million Covid-19 project raised questions.

One of the companies co-founded by President Cyril Ramaphosa's son provided ventilation technology in a R6 million project. However, amid increasing allegations of corruption in connection to relief funding, people were wondering if the state ultimately paid the bill.

Andile is also his dad’s biggest supporter, and he doesn’t take kind to haters trolling the president. On several occasions in the past, Andile has shot back at Ramaphosa’s critics.

According to IOL, in 2017, EFF leader Julius Malema reportedly made claims about Ramaphosa being abusive towards his first wife, who is also Andile’s mom.

Taking to social media, Andile rubbished the claims and called out Juju. He allegedly wrote:

“Respectfully, this story is fake news. How would you feel if someone went around spreading lies about your parents?…totally unacceptable.”

In 2018, Andile married Bridget Rwakairu, who is also the niece of the former Ugandan prime minister and presidential candidate, Amama Mbabazi. In May of that year, Ramaphosa travelled to Uganda to pay Bridget’s dowry.

Tumelo Ramaphosa

Tumelo is President Ramaphosa’s youngest son, whom he shares with Dr Tshepo Motsepe.

Tumelo isn't just the president's son. He has carved out a niche for himself as an entrepreneur, fitness fanatic, and fashion enthusiast.

Tumelo followed in his dad’s entrepreneurial footsteps and founded a company called StudEx Wildlife. According to a report by IOL, Tumelo has a master's degree from Hult International Business College, and he lived in the United States a couple of years ago.

On 17 November, Tumelo posted a video of his father dancing, captioning the post:

"National birthday 17 November."

Sometime back, Tumelu was branded the “National Bae” title by ladies because of his charming personality and killer looks.

The Ramaphosa women

The president has three daughters: Tulisa from his marriage to the late Nomazizi Mtshotshisana, and Kiki and Mashudu with Dr Tshepo Motsepe.

Unlike their brothers, the Ramaphosa daughters prefer to keep a low profile and stay out of the spotlight. Little is known about them, but the CR17 campaign did share a photo of Mashudu talking about her father on his 65th birthday several years ago.

Take a look at the post below:

In 2018, IOL reported a relative revealed Mashudu and Kiki are still young and were busy studying at the University of Cape Town.

President Cyril Ramaphosa makes u-turn on stance over Russia's invasion of Ukraine - according to President Zelenskyy

In other Ramaphosa news, Briefly News previously reported the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said that after meeting with African leaders, including Cyril Ramaphosa, they better understand his idea of peace for the region. He pointed out that the recent gathering of African heads of state changed Ramaphosa's views. Zelenskyy's plan has 10 points and more than 130 nations support his plan.

Netizens on X slammed Ramaphosa for changing his mind and shared their views on Zelenskyy himself.

Thabang said:

“He lied to you.”

Tebzer King pointed out:

“It doesn’t amaze me. He’s unreliable.”