Rapulane Mabelane is the Group Chief Investment Officer at Thebe Investment Corporation, where he leads the Group’s investment strategy, mergers and acquisitions, funding, capital structuring, disposals, and legal risk management. An admitted attorney of the High Court of South Africa, he is a highly accomplished corporate finance lawyer and seasoned investment executive with extensive experience in executing complex, high-value transactions across multiple sectors.
He holds B.Proc and LLB degrees from the University of the Western Cape, a Master’s degree in Banking, Finance and Commercial Law from the University of the Witwatersrand, and an MBA from the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS), University of Pretoria. Before joining Thebe in 2009, Rapulane served as Divisional Executive: Group Legal Services at the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), where he led legal and transaction advisory services across the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
He also worked as a Structured Financier at DBSA, managing strategic funding facilities with multilateral development finance institutions, including the African Development Bank and several European Development Finance Institutions. Earlier in his career, he held legal advisory roles at Gensec Bank Limited and Sanlam Limited, completed his articles at Webber Wentzel Bowens, and practised commercial law at Sonnenberg Hoffmann Galombik Inc. (now ENS). Over the past 15 years at Thebe, Rapulane has led the execution of many of the Group’s landmark transactions.
These include Thebe’s first mining acquisition and funding, the merger of Shell South Africa Marketing and Shell South Africa Refining to establish Shell Downstream South Africa, the disposal of Safripol, the restructuring and exit of Thebe’s investment in Vodacom, the execution and funding of all 12 of Thebe’s renewable energy investments, the acquisition of four Biotherm renewable energy projects, multiple large-scale balance sheet funding and refinancing transactions, the Group’s largest investment disposal programme, and the acquisition of ABSA’s shareholding in Thebe by management, among several other strategic transactions.
Rapulane has served on the boards of several listed and private companies within Thebe’s investment portfolio and is a member of Thebe’s Group Executive Committee. He is passionate about creating sustainable value through investments that drive economic transformation, empower communities, and advance Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE). Beyond his executive responsibilities, he serves as an advisor to the Board of Trustees of the African World Heritage Fund, supporting the preservation and promotion of Africa’s cultural and natural heritage under the auspices of UNESCO and the African Union.