Richest men in SA tech
The Sunday Times has published its annual Rich List, revealing which names in tech and telecoms run with the wealthiest people the country has to offer.
According to the Sunday Times Rich List, the 2013 ranking was headed by Shoprite and Pepkor head, Christo Wiese, who boosted his personal wealth to R27.4-billion in 2013.
Wiese was ranked ahead of African Rainbow Minerals head, Patrice Motsepe (worth R22.597 billion); Aspen Pharmacare’s Stephen Saad (worth R10.524 billion); and Assore’s Desmond Sacco (worth R10.341 billion).
The only player within the technology space to make the top 10 list was Naspers CEO, Koos Bekker – whose holdings in Naspers padded his personal wealth of R7.15 billion.
Another Naspers executive, CFO Steve Pacak, was also a big winner in the year, amassing a personal wealth of R474 million – placing 9th in technology, and 68th overall.
For the tech sector, stakeholders and executives in Ellies, Datatec, MiX Telematics, EOH, and Blue Label Telecoms all made the top 10 cut.
Top 10 richest South Africans in technology
| T# | # | Name | Company | Worth |
| 1 | 8 | Koos Bekker | Naspers | R7.15 billion |
| 2 | 25 | Bill Venter | Altron | R1.38 billion |
| 3 | 26 | Johann Rupert | Remgro | R1.26 billion |
| 4 | 35 | Elliot Salkow | Ellies | R880 million |
| 5 | 41 | Jens Montanana | Datatec | R687 million |
| 6 | 46 | Brett Levy | Blue Label Telecoms | R652 million |
| 7 | 50 | Robin Frew | MiX Telematics | R629 million |
| 8 | 52 | Mark Levy | Blue Label Telecoms | R593 million |
| 9 | 68 | Steve Pacak | Naspers | R474 million |
| 10 | 87 | Arnold Fourie | Pinnacle Technology | R373 million |
EOH chief executive, Asher Bohbot (ranked 96th overall) just missed the tech top 10, having a personal wealth of R322 million.
Top tech earners
When looking at who earned the most in the past financial year, tech’s top dogs feature far lower on the list than some of the executives in the mining, banking and retail sectors.
Topping the big earners is Mondi CEO David Hathorn, whose share gains of R54.5 million – on top of salary, benefits and bonuses – resulted in a total take of R76.2 million for the year.
The highest-ranked executive in the technology space was MTN Group CEO, Sifiso Dabengwa, who pulled in a total haul of R23.5 million in the past financial year.
Datatec CEO, Jens Montanana, also saw a salary above R20 million for the past financial year, having earned a base salary or R8.4 million
Former executives, Pieter Uys (former Vodacom CEO) and Pinky Moholi (former Telkom CEO), all received large parting salaries from their companies – taking their total pay to R16.5 million and R12.0 million, respectively.
| T# | # | Name | Company | Earnings |
| 1 | 33 | Sifiso Dabengwa | MTN | R23.539 million |
| 2 | 34 | Jens Montanana | Datatec | R22.141 million |
| 3 | 68 | Craig Venter | Altron | R16.803 million |
| 4 | 70 | Pieter Uys | Vodacom (former) | R16.524 million |
| 5 | 102 | Nazir Patel | MTN | R13.848 million |
| 6 | 109 | Brett Levy | Blue Label Telecoms | R13.309 million |
| 7 | 110 | Mark Levy | Blue Label Telecoms | R13.309 million |
| 8 | 127 | Pinky Moholi | Telkom (former) | R12.067 million |
In reporting its Rich List, the Sunday Times observed that the list remains predominantly white and male, with only two women making it into the top 100: Lawyer Sharon Wapnick (65th) worth R505-million, and Aspen pharmacare chairwoman Judy Dlamini (66th) worth R502-million.
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