A 33-year-old investment actuary and portfolio manager, Dean De Sousa from Bryanston in Gauteng, was crowned the country’s top boerewors maker at the 34th annual Championship Boerewors finale on Saturday, 15 August.
De Sousa impressed the expert judging panel with a recipe that offered a balance of flavour and texture, while remaining true to traditional boerewors.
“Winning the Championship Boerewors Competition is an incredible honour. To be named the maker of the best boerewors in the country means having the best boerewors around the braai, and that is something I am extremely proud of. My dad has been a huge inspiration throughout my journey and I’m happy to make him and the rest of my family proud with this achievement,” says De Sousa.
De Sousa was inspired by childhood memories of attending Championship Boerewors events with his father, who has always encouraged him to cook and experiment with flavours, and this led to a lifelong passion for making boerewors.
His father, Tony de Sousa, was one of the first South Africans to become a Master Butcher in 2020 after obtaining this prestigious accreditation from Britain’s Institute of Meat, He joined the Shoprite Group in 1998 and is a Spice and Meat Operations Manager at the retailer’s Home Office in Brackenfell.
As the 2026 champion, De Sousa’s recipe will be produced as the new Championship Boerewors which will be for sale in Shoprite and Checkers supermarkets nationwide from Friday, 4 September. He also drove away in a Toyota Fortuner 2.4 GD-6 RB AT valued at more than R700 000 and received R20 000 in cash.
Second place went to Luhan Pretorius from Bloemfontein, Free State, who received R50 000, while Ashook Beharie from Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal took third place and received R30 000.
“Selecting a winning recipe was incredibly challenging because each finalist brought something unique to the table. Every recipe reflected its maker’s passion, creativity and dedication, with carefully balanced flavours and countless hours of effort behind it. We were not simply judging boerewors recipes, we were looking for the flavour that best represents South Africa. In many ways, we were selecting the nation’s flavour,” said judge, chef and cookbook author, Carmen Niehaus.
