Richest people in South Africa
Forbes recently published its list of the 50 richest people in Africa, listing 11 South Africans who made the cut.
In its latest listing, which measured Africa’s richest’s fortunes as at the end of 2014, South Africa was trumped by Nigeria as the country with the most wealthy individuals in the top 50.
The list featured 13 Nigerians compared to South Africa’s 11, which was down from 14 in the previous listing.
Once again, Nigerian business tycoon Aliko Dangote tops the list as the richest man in Africa by a long shot, with a net worth of US$21.6 billion.
Three familiar South African faces follow in the top 5, with only Egypt’s richest man Nassef Sawiris interjecting at number 4.
Topping the list for South Africa is luxury goods boss Johann Rupert, with a net worth of US$7.3 billion.
Johann Rupert
Rupert made his billions serving as chairman and CEO of Richemont, a Swiss holding company that controls brands such as Vacheron Constantin, Cartier, Alfred Dunhill, Montblanc, and Chloé.
Rupert is also the chairman of Remgro, which has South African technology interests in the CIV group of companies, and an investment in SEACOM.
South African diamond magnate Nicky Oppenheimer is the 2nd richest person in the country, according to Forbes, with a net worth of US$6.8 billion.
Shoprite chief Christo Wiese is listed at 3rd (5th in Africa) with a net worth of US$5.4 billion, followed by mining magnate Patrice Motsepe (14th overall) with a net worth of US$2 billion.
Richest people in South Africa
| # | Person | Net worth (US$) |
| 2 | Johann Rupert | $7.3 billion |
| 3 | Nicky Oppenheimer | $6.8 billion |
| 5 | Christo Wiese | $5.4 billion |
| 14 | Patrice Motsepe | $2.3 billion |
| 17 | Koos Bekker | $2.0 billion |
| 18 | Stephen Saad | $1.9 billion |
| 32 | Laurie Dippenaar | $730 million |
| 36 | Desmond Sacco | $680 million |
| 38 | Gus Attridge | $660 million |
| 48 | Jannie Mouton | $520 million |
| 50 | GT Ferreira | $510 million |
The African wealth ranking shows a notable slide for Assore CEO Desmond Sacco. Declines in the group’s stock price saw his net wealth slashed in half from $1.4 billion in 2014 – seeing him lose his billionaire status.
Notably, Forbes leaves the Allan Gray investment firm founder and namesake off the list, as his primary residence is in Bermuda. Gray’s estimated net worth is US$1.5 billion.
This means that South Africa only has six ‘official’ dollar billionaires, according to Forbes – down from eight in previous listings.
Africa’s richest
The richest people in Africa are better off than they were in the previous listing, having increased their combined wealth by 6.7% to US$110.7 billion, according to Forbes.
The lowest listed net worth was $510 million, up from $400 million.
The three South Africans to drop out of the top 50 include South African deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa; Raymond Ackerman; and Adrian Gore.
The rest of the top 10 in Africa includes Nigerian investor Mike Adenugam as well as Africa’s richest woman, Angolan Isabel dos Santos, with a net worth over US$3.7 billion (8th overall).
| # | Person | Net worth (US$) |
| 1 | Aliko Dangote | $21.6 billion |
| 2 | Johann Rupert | $7.3 billion |
| 3 | Nicky Oppenheimer | $6.8 billion |
| 4 | Nassef Sawiris | $6.1 billion |
| 5 | Christo Wiese | $5.4 billion |
| 6 | Mike Adenuga | $4.6 billion |
| 7 | Mohamed Mansour | $4.0 billion |
| 8 | Isabel dos Santos | $3.7 billion |
| 9 | Issad Rebrab | $3.2 billion |
| 10 | Naguib Sawiris | $3.1 billion |
The full list can be found on Forbes.
More on South African wealth
Surprising number of South Africans in the world’s richest 10%
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