There is a particular kind of businessman that South Africa produces in small numbers: the kind who spent years being told the system was not built for him and responded by building his own. Sandile Donald Muziwenkosi Zungu is that kind of businessman. He grew up in Umlazi Township in Durban, one of apartheid's most deliberately disadvantaged urban environments, and emerged from it carrying two things that would define everything that followed: an engineering degree from the University of Cape Town and an absolute refusal to think small.
In 2026, the full weight of that refusal became visible. In May, his investment company Zico joined a consortium that acquired Sumitomo's 54 percent stake in one of the world's largest nickel and cobalt mines in Madagascar, picking up an asset the Japanese giant had spent 3 billion developing and ultimately sold at a distressed price after 2.6 billion in cumulative losses. Then, on June 1, his consortium Sizekhaya Holdings assumed operational control of South Africa's National Lottery, an R180 billion eight-year contract that is one of the most lucrative government-backed commercial licences in the country's history.
Two deals. One month apart. Both of a scale that most South African businessmen will never touch once, let alone twice.
