South Africa currently has eight dollar billionaires ranked among the world’s richest people at the start of 2026, with a combined net worth of $43.6 billion, equivalent to approximately R715 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The billionaire list for South Africa, based on the live tracking from Forbes, has expanded since the start of 2025, with two additional names now featured on the list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PSG founder and philanthropist, Jannie Mouton, made a grand re-entry onto the rankings in 2025, while newcomer, Paul van Zuydam, also made his debut on the list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mouton is well-known among South Africa’s wealthy elite, known for his contributions in building great businesses such as Capitec, PSG Konsult, and Curro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Capitec is a notable success, with founder Michiel le Roux also ranking among South Africa’s dollar billionaires. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Le Roux has noted that PSG and Mouton\u2019s active involvement in Capitec’s early years was crucial to its success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While largely out of the limelight in recent years, the Mouton name made waves again in 2025 with his foundation’s move to acquire private school group Curro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Through a R7.2 billion purchase deal\u2014comprising a minor cash consideration, as well as shares in Capitec and PSG Financial Services\u2014the Mouton Foundation will acquire Curro and turn it into a bona fide public benefit organisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Curro will delist from the JSE and will be positioned as an ever-evolving independent education institution that uses its funds to build more schools, expand facilities, and offer bursaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The second new entrant for 2026 is a lesser-known name behind a very well-known brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Paul van Zuydam, president and owner of the Le Creuset brand, has been added to the list of South Africa’s elite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Van Zuydam was previously chairman and CEO of homeware group Prestige and had strong business acumen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He saw great potential in the French Le Creuset brand, which he acquired in 1988 with approval from the French government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under his ownership, Le Creuset was rebuilt around its core strengths, transforming it from financial hardship to generating over $850 million (approximately R14 billion) in annual revenue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At 87, Van Zuydam remains involved in daily operations as president of the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n South Africa’s billionaires had a remarkable 2025, adding at least $9.2 billion (R150 billion) to their collective wealth over the course of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n South Africa’s richest man, Johann Rupert, continues to dominate the competition, with Nicky Oppenheimer being the only other billionaire with a wealth in the double digits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rupert\u2019s fortune, valued at $16.4 billion (R268 billion), was buoyed by a diversified portfolio of investments. The Rupert family\u2019s listed investments have rallied this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Richemont, the luxury goods company chaired by Rupert, surged nearly 30%, with a market capitalisation of just under R2 trillion on the JSE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, his investment holding company, Remgro, is up 16% this year, with a market valuation of R95 billion, while Reinet is up 25%, valued at R109 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oppenheimer\u2019s investments and strategic asset management have consistently yielded impressive returns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Media mogul Koos Bekker continued to ride the gains of his investments, particularly his shareholding in Naspers\/Prosus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In December, the billionaire cashed out approximately R2.5 billion in shares of the company to finance investments in luxury accommodations and hospitality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Patrice Motsepe, recognised as Africa\u2019s first black billionaire, posted notable gains in his net worth, with an estimated $1.1 billion added to his fortune.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Capitec founder Michiel le Roux saw his fortunes rise on the stellar performance of the country’s largest retail bank by customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christo Wiese’s return to the billionaire list following the collapse of Steinhoff\u2014which wiped out R59 billion of his net worth\u2014is largely due to the performance of his other retail holdings, such as Shoprite and Pepkor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n South Africa also briefly had a ninth dollar billionaire in 2025 in Karooooo founder and CEO, Zac Calisto.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Calisto became an official dollar billionaire in May 2025 when the company hit a market capitalisation of $1.65 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the time, Calisto’s public holding in the company was a direct ownership of 65% of the group\u2019s shares, valued at $1.07 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In October 2025, Calisto’s direct holding was reduced to 58% as he sold shares. With the company’s market cap currently at $1.38 billion, Calisto’s holding is valued at approximately $800 million.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" South Africa currently has eight dollar billionaires ranked among the world’s richest people at the start of 2026, with a combined net worth of R715 billion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":847289,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9880],"tags":[9058,1896],"class_list":["post-847283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wealth","tag-billionaire","tag-forbes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=847283"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":847291,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847283\/revisions\/847291"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/847289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=847283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=847283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=847283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Billionaire<\/th> Source<\/th> Net worth
(Jan 25)<\/th>Net worth
(Jan 26)<\/th>Change<\/th><\/tr><\/thead> Johann Rupert<\/td> Luxury Goods<\/td> $12.8 billion<\/td> $16.4 billion<\/td> +$3.6 billion<\/td><\/tr> Nicky Oppenheimer<\/td> Diamonds<\/td> $9.5 billion<\/td> $10.5 billion<\/td> +$1.0 billion<\/td><\/tr> Koos Bekker<\/td> Media and Investments<\/td> $2.8 billion<\/td> $3.9 billion<\/td> +$1.1 billion<\/td><\/tr> Patrice Motsepe<\/td> Mining<\/td> $2.7 billion<\/td> $3.8 billion<\/td> +$1.1 billion<\/td><\/tr> Michiel le Roux<\/td> Banking<\/td> $1.7 billion<\/td> $3.2 billion<\/td> +$1.5 billion<\/td><\/tr> Jannie Mouton<\/td> Financial Services<\/td> $1.6 billion<\/td> $2.3 billion<\/td> +$0.7 billion<\/td><\/tr> Christo Wiese<\/td> Retail<\/td> $1.6 billion<\/td> $1.8 billion<\/td> +$0.2 billion<\/td><\/tr> Paul van Zuydam<\/td> Le Crueset<\/td> –<\/td> $1.7 billion<\/td> –<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Billionaires getting richer<\/h2>\n\n\n\n