South Africa's 7 dollar billionaires just got a lot RICHER

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It’s comparatively ‘easy’ to make money – when you have money. Compound interest really is 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 Africans 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 $14.1 billion.

The Ruperts are followed by diamond magnate Nicky 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.

Rupert added a whopping $700 million (R12.8 billion) to his net worth in the last week alone, while Koos Bekker and Michiel Le Roux each added $100 million (R1.83 billion).

In terms of the overall world list, South Africa-born Elon Musk remains the world’s richest person with a reported $395.6 billion.

Below, the list of the top seven richest South Africans in the world as of 12 May 2025.

Rank	Name	Last week	This week	Source
167	Johann Rupert & family	$13.4bn	$14.1bn	Luxury goods
260	Nicky Oppenheimer & family	$10.5bn	$10.5bn	Diamonds
1 071	Koos Bekker	$3.4bn	$3.5bn	Media, investments
1 207	Patrice Motsepe	$3.1bn	$3.1bn	Mining
1 496	Michiel Le Roux	$2.4bn	$2.5bn	Banking
2 048	Jannie Mouton & family	$1.7bn	$1.7bn	Retail
2 160	Christo Wiese	$1.6bn	$1.6bn	Financial services
TOTAL		$36.1bn	$37bn