It’s comparatively ‘easy’ to make money – when you have money to start with. Compound interest is indeed the eighth wonder of the world!
As they say, the rich get richer, while the poor stay, well, poor.
Money makes money – and these seven South African men have made a lot of it over the years.
And by a lot, we mean a LOT!
How they made their money
According to Forbes’ real-time tracking of billionaires, Johann Rupert and his family are the richest in South Africa, with a net worth of $14 billion.
The Ruperts are followed by diamond magnateNicky Oppenheimer, who boasts a net worth of $10.5 billion.
They are followed by Koos Bekker, Patrice Motsepe, Michiel Le Roux, Jannie Mouton and Christo Wiese.
South Africa’s seven dollar billionaires all made their money in different ways – from luxury goods, diamonds, mining, media, banking and retail.
In the last week alone, Bekker, Motsepe and Wiese all added $100 million (R1.77 billion) to their net worths.
Rupert was the big ‘loser’ as his net worth dropped by $600 million (R10.6 billion).
Cumulatively, South Africa’s seven dollar billionaires are worth $37.4 billion (R663 billion).
Meanwhile, in terms of the overall world list, South Africa-born Elon Musk remains the world’s richest person with a reported $393.8 billion.
Below, the list of the top seven richest South Africans in the world as of 9 June 2025.
Rank
Name
Last week
This week
Source
179
Johann Rupert & family
$14.6bn
$14bn
Luxury goods
270
Nicky Oppenheimer & family
$10.5bn
$10.5bn
Diamonds
1 061
Koos Bekker
$3.5bn
$3.6bn
Media, investments
1 147
Patrice Motsepe
$3.2bn
$3.3bn
Mining
1 481
Michiel Le Roux
$2.5bn
$2.5bn
Banking
2 023
Jannie Mouton & family
$1.8bn
$1.8bn
Retail
2 112
Christo Wiese
$1.6bn
$1.7bn
Financial services
TOTAL
$37.7bn
$37.4bn
How far off are YOU from joining this list of South African dollar billionaires?
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