South Africa: The New Rand Lords

South African businessman Tokyo Sexwale.

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South Africa's mining magnates and millionaires have been meeting in the imposing Rand Club in downtown Johannesburg for more than a century. The neo-Baroque building is filled with paintings of such celebrated past members as British colonizer Cecil Rhodes and the ubiquitous portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. Built on the wealth of the largest goldfield in the world and the sweat of black labor, the club's membership was, until a few years ago, closed to South Africa's blacks. But these days, there's a new breed of tycoon walking the club's wood-paneled corridors and sipping whiskey in its stuffed leather chairs. A black élite has crossed over from politics and the ruling African National Congress (A.N.C.): Rand Club members include Cyril Ramaphosa, 52, one of South Africa's richest men, who was once touted as a possible successor to Nelson Mandela, and Tokyo Sexwale, also 52, another politician turned capitalist.

The two men--with gold-mining magnate Patrice Motsepe, 43, whose wealth South African newspapers put at more than $500 million, and banking and media tycoon Saki Macozoma, 47--form a quartet of rich, well-connected black businessmen who symbolize South Africa's new corporate élite. Although they work separately, Macozoma, Motsepe, Ramaphosa and Sexwale have been dubbed the Fabulous Four for their growing power and wealth, and between them, they have more than $1 billion worth of interests in some of South Africa's largest companies, from mining heavyweights Harmony Gold and Gold Fields to life insurer Sanlam and Alexander Forbes Financial Services to banking giants ABSA and Standard Bank. The men are also buying playthings. Motsepe owns the Mamelodi Sundowns, one of South Africa's most successful soccer teams. Sexwale, who bought the Oude Kelder winery outside Cape Town in 2002, sponsors the national soccer league and is financing a South African entry on the A1 Grand Prix circuit. Later this year, he will appear in a South African version of The Apprentice, in the Donald Trump role.

Just how the four have reached that rarified level, though, has become a matter of deep controversy in South Africa. Although apartheid is dead a decade and the country is ruled by blacks, whites still dominate the economy and hold most of the wealth. Comprising only 10% of the nation's 45 million people, whites (directly or through equity positions) control 69% of the companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange; 27% are in foreign hands, and just 4% are controlled by blacks. The imbalance is also pronounced among wage earners. Some 100,000 white South Africans earn more than $60,000 annually; just 5,000 blacks do. While there is some good news--according to the South African Advertising and Research Foundation, almost 300,000 blacks became middle-income earners (between $13,000 and $23,000 annually) over the past three years--there is still 40% unemployment, which largely hits the black community.