Power Point: South African lawyer and former politician Mathews Phosa pursued an unusual approach to legal fees: helping mining communities secure and develop mineral rights and, in some cases, taking equity rather than conventional fees. Decades later, his business interests stretch across mining, forestry, logistics and other sectors, although claims about the precise size of his fortune remain unverified.
Mathews Phosa rejected invoices for deals he considered significant in favour of taking shares in clients’ businesses.
It is a fee strategy that carries considerably more risk than sending a monthly account, but clearly has more upside, particularly when the client happens to be sitting on valuable mineral rights.
The South African lawyer, businessman, former anti-apartheid activist and political heavyweight reportedly built a substantial portfolio of business interests partly by helping rural communities turn mineral rights into investable assets.
A former politician and ANC leader he is also currently in the South African news because of calls to reduce the size and inefficiencies of government.
According to reports Phosa assisted communities with applications for mining rights and, where they lacked the capital to undertake exploration, helped take those assets to the market to raise funding, taking an equity interest – of course.
The result was effectively a lawyer becoming an investor alongside his clients.
From Small-Town Lawyer To ANC Negotiator
Phosa’s career was hardly conventional even before he began collecting equity.
He studied law at the University of the North and in 1981 established what his current law firm describes as the first black-owned law practice in Nelspruit, now Mbombela.
His legal career was interrupted in 1985 when he went into exile during apartheid. Phosa subsequently became a regional commander of the ANC’s armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe, operating from Mozambique.
When the ANC was unbanned in 1990, Phosa was among the first ANC representatives to return to South Africa and became involved in negotiations with the National Party government. He later headed the ANC’s legal department and participated in the CODESA negotiations that preceded democratic government.
Following South Africa’s first democratic election in 1994, Nelson Mandela appointed him the first premier of Mpumalanga. He remained premier until 1999 before shifting his attention towards business.
Politics never entirely released its grip. Phosa later served as ANC treasurer-general between 2007 and 2012 and unsuccessfully sought the ANC presidency in 2017.
The Equity-Instead-Of-Fees Strategy
It is Phosa’s approach to legal work and investment, however, that provides the more intriguing lesson for lawyers.
Mining communities could possess valuable mineral rights without having the capital or expertise required to exploit them.
Phosa could provide the legal expertise needed to secure those rights and help connect the assets with capital markets.
Over time, Phosa accumulated an extensive collection of corporate roles and investments spanning mining, timber, logistics, energy and other industries.
He became chairman of Jubilee Metals Group in April 2025. The London-listed company processes chrome and platinum-group metals in South Africa and copper in Zambia.
Phosa has also held roles involving Value Group, Hans Merensky Holdings, Bauba Resources and numerous private businesses, while maintaining continuing links with legal practice.
Just How Rich Is Mathews Phosa?
Various websites have attached net-worth estimates ranging from the merely wealthy to the spectacularly wealthy to Phosa.
There is little reliable evidence supporting those numbers.
Billionaires.Africa itself notes that published estimates have ranged from approximately $5 million to $450 million, but says none can be tied convincingly to audited accounts, regulatory filings or disclosed holdings.
He has not appeared on Forbes’ African billionaires list.
So describing Phosa as a billionaire, or attaching a precise fortune to him, would require more enthusiasm than evidence.
What can be documented is his unusually extensive corporate career.
He has served on numerous company and institutional boards and remains involved in businesses ranging from mining and forestry to logistics. He also continues to be identified as a director of South African legal practices.
A Different Sort Of Legal Career
For lawyers, Phosa’s career raises a more interesting question than simply how much money he made.
Contingency arrangements and equity compensation are hardly unknown, particularly around startups and emerging companies, although professional conduct rules, conflicts and financial risk can make such arrangements considerably more complicated than simply swapping an invoice for shares.
Phosa’s career nevertheless provides an unusually dramatic example of the principle.
The conventional law firm model rewards the lawyer when the work is performed. Equity potentially rewards the lawyer when the client’s enterprise succeeds.
