Who are the top 10 richest people in South Africa?
Despite the global coronavirus pandemic, South Africa’s wealthiest are richer than they have been in years.
South Africa is a country with lots of hard-working business minds and these minds have taken advantage of the opportunities South Africa has had to offer and even created some of their own opportunities to make their way to the top 10 billionaires list of South Africa.
So, who are the top 10 richest people in South Africa? The following list is based on an annual assessment of wealth and assets.
Top 10 richest people in South Africa
1. Elon Musk – Net worth $147 billion (R2,225.1 billion)
Elon Musk is a business mangate, industrial designer and engineer. He is the founder, CEO, CTO, and chief designer of SpaceX; early investor, CEO & product architect of Tesla, founder of The Boring Company, co-founder of Neuralink and co-founder of initial co-chairman of OpenAI. He was also instrumental in creating the company that became PayPal.
After graduating from high school, Musk moved to Canada with his mother and siblings and spent two years studying at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario. He then attended the University of Pennsylvania in the US and studied Physics and economics.
Whilst studying University, Musk and a classmate rented out a 10-bedroom frat house and turned it into a nightclub. This was one of his first entrepreneurial experiments.
Today, there are talks that he is predicted to become the world’s first trillionaire.
2. Johann Rupert – Net worth $10.4 billion (R157.4 billion)
Rupert is one of South Africas best known billionaire with shareholding in a larger number of South African and international companies. Johann Peter Rupert is a South African born entrepreneur, who is the eldest son of business tycoon Anton Rupert and his wife Huberte. He is the chairman of the Swiss-based luxury-goods company Richemont and the South Africa based-company Remgro.
Despite the ongoing pressure from the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, Ruperts portfolio has increased as much as R54 billion to his net worth.
3. Nicky Oppenheimer – Net worth $8 billion (R121.1 billion)
Nicholas Oppenheimer is a South African billionaire businessman. He was formerly the chairman of De Beers diamond mining company and of its subsidiary, The Diamond Trading Company, and former deputy chairman of Anglo American. He is the second richest man in the whole of Africa.
As a philanthropist, him and his son Jonathan Oppenheimer established the Brenthurst Foundation in 2005 as a way to contribute to the debate around strategies and policies for strengthening Africa’s economic performance and enabling inclusive and sustainable development.
4. Patrick Soon-Shiong – Net worth $6.7 billion (R101.4 billion)
Patrick Soon-Shiong is a South African-American transplant surgeon, billionaire businessman, bioscientist, and media proprietor. He is the inventor of the drug Abraxane, which became known for its efficacy against lung, breast and pancreatic cancer.
In 2020, Soon-Shiong’s ImmunityBio was selected for the federal government’s “operation Warp Speed” to help quickly develop a Covid-19 vaccines. He is married and has 2 children.
5. Patrice Motsepe – Net worth $2.8 billionaire (R42.4 billion)
Patrice Tlophane Mostepe is a South African mining billionaire of Tswana descent. He is the founder and executive chairman of African Rainbow Minerals, which has interests in gold, ferrous metals, base metals and platinum.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Swaziland and a law degree from the Univeristy of the Witwaterdrand. He is the 11th richest man in Africa and the 1020th richest man in the world. He is married and has 3 children.
6. Koos Bekker – Net worth $2.5 billion (R37.8 billion)
Jacobus Petrus “Koos” Bekker is a South African billionaire businessman and the of chairman of media group Naspers. The company operates in 130 countries and is listed on the London Stock Exchange and Johannesburg Stock Exchange. It has the largest market capitalization of any media company outside the U.S and China.
His Babylonstoren estate, nearly 600 acres in South Africa’s Western Cape region, features architecture dating back to 1690, a far, orchard and vineyard and more. He is married and has 4 children.
7. Allan Gray- Net worth $1.2 billion (R18.2 billion)
Allan Gray was a South African billionaire businessman and philanthropist. He was the founder of the privately-owned Allan Gray Investment Management, and the non-profit Allan Gray Orbis Foundation, and the Allan and Gill Gray Charitable Trust.
He studied accounting at Rhodes University and obtained a masters degree at the Harvard Business School.
8. Michiel Le Roux – Net worth $1.2 billion (R18.2 billion)
Michiel Le Roux of South Africa founded Capitec Bank in 2001. The bank trades on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and targets South Africa’s emerging middle class. He served as chairman of the board of Capitec from 2007 to 2016 and has continued on as board member.
9. Chirstoffel Wiese – Net worth $1.1 billion (R16.7 billion)
Christofell Wiese is a South African businessma and former billionaire. His source of wealth is consumer retail. Christoffel Weise built his Pepkor retail empire by offering bargain prices in South Africa and expanded into other African countries.
Wiese received the BA and LLB degreesfrom the Stellenbosch University. He practiced law at the Cape Bar before working as Director at Pepkor.
10. Jannie Mouton – Net worth $1.3 billion (R19.7 million)
Jannie Mouton is a South African billionaire businessman, the founder and chairman of PSG Group. PSG has interests in financial services, banking, private equity, agriculture & education.
He has a degree from Stellenbosch University and is a qualified chartered accountant. Before Mouton founded PSG Group, he was fired as managing partner by Stockbrokers Senekal, Mouton & Kishoff, a firm he co-founded. He is married and has 3 children.
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Sources:
https://wikisouthafrica.co.za/richest-men-in-south-africa/
https://businesstech.co.za/news/wealth/550410/the-richest-people-in-south-africa-at-the-start-of-2022/