Top 10 South Africans You Didn’t Know Were Catholics

by Daluxolo Moloantoa · Published September 19, 2022 · Updated October 11, 2022

1 Judge Raymond Zondo
Before becoming a lawyer, south Africa’s chief justice considered becoming a priest.

2 Leanne Manas
She’s a presenter on SA’s most popular breakfast television show Morning Live. She’s one of the most openly Catholic media personalities on social media.

3 Patrice Motsepe
He’s one of the richest men in SA. He spent ten years at a Catholic boarding school in Aliwal North, in the Eastern Cape. He says, “This is where my character was formed.” He’s a parishioner of the Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Johannesburg.

4 Tokyo Sexwale
He’s a former Gauteng premier and a businessman. The Sexwale family, including his brothers and sisters, attended the Lady of Lourdes Church in Dube Village in Soweto. Sexwale is today a major benefactor of the church.

5 Nomvula Mokonyane
She’s a former Gauteng premier and a former government minister. She’s a member of the St Anne sodality in her hometown of Kagiso on Johannesburg’s West Rand.

6 Danilo Acquisto
He’s amongst the most well-known personalities on the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC)’s television channels. He presents the “Afternoon Expresso” show on weekdays and presents the #MusicLab music show on weekends on Good Hope FM. His social media posts feature some of his many trips on pilgrimage in places abroad such as Rome in Italy, or in solitary prayer at his Cape Town home church.

7 Thabile Mbhele
The award-winning television presenter was the face of prime-time Zulu news on SABC 1 for fifteen years. Today she works in communication for the Gauteng Province government. She’s a member of the Catholic Women’s League (CWL).

8 Vusi Thembekwayo
In his younger years, he was an altar server. A good grounding for the renowned businessman and motivational speaker that he is today.

9 Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
She’s a former South African deputy president and executive director of UN Women in New York in the United States. She attended high school at Inkamana High School. It is one of the oldest schools in KZN, and is run by the Benedictine Missionaries.

10 Maite Nkoana-Mashabane
She’s the current minister in the presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities. She’s held two other ministerial roles before. She’s a parishioner of the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Pretoria.