Douw Merwe Viljoen

Merwe Viljoen started off his career in the modest surroundings of the South African Revenue Services, but only after matriculating from Hoërskool C.R. Swart in Pretoria in 1981 and later graduating from the University of Pretoria with a CTA degree. It was from here that he passed his chartered accountant’s admission exam and was later awarded a Master of Taxation degree. After being awarded his B Com Honours degree he remained with SARS for just two years before starting the auditing company of Viljoen and Nieuwoudt.


Douw Merwe Viljoen is married to Zelda. He and his family relocated from Pretoria to settle on a small wine farm in the Stellenbosch region of the Western Cape. Here he has been instrumental in the setting up of a number of important agreements, including sourcing and acquiring finance from the Development Bank of Southern Africa for the Government of Zimbabwe’s first phase of toll roads. He also obtained mining rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for Ruashi Copper Mine, now jointly operated by Metorex, a company listed on the JSE. Merwe was a founder member of King Pie and was involved in launching the product in the United Kingdom.


Today Merwe has interests in a Kruger National Park game lodge, a Mozambique holiday lodge, is Chairman of the finance company Waxbill Capital, is involved in commercial and residential property development, and asset portfolio management. Douw van der Merwe Viljoen’s latest venture is into the realm of wine farming, in which he describes himself as a fledgling.