Top 10 most important and famous people from South Africa

Female writer, author of Burger's Daughter and July's People, winner of Nobel Prize in Literature in 1991

Writer, author of Elizabeth Costello and The Childhood of Jesus, winner of Nobel Prize in Literature in 2003

Anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999

Last head of state from the era of white-minority rule, he and his government dismantled the apartheid system and introduced universal suffrage. Winner of Nobel Peace Prize in 1993

Virologist, winner of Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1951 for developing a vaccine against yellow fever

Bishop known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist. He was Bishop of Johannesburg from 1985 to 1986 and then Archbishop of Cape Town from 1986 to 1996

Cardiac surgeon who performed the world's first human-to-human heart transplant operation

Actress, famous for her roles in The Devil's Advocate and Mighty Joe Young, winner of Academy Award in 2004

Golf player, who won all four majors in his career

Business magnate, Space X, Tesla