SA’s five ‘dollar-billionaires’ 2021: Johann Rupert reaches huge wealth landmark

Despite the devastating impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic in the past 12 months, the five richest men in South Africa – all of whom are classed as ‘dollar-billionaires’ – barely flinched. Indeed, the wealthiest of them all, Johann Rupert, has enjoyed an uptick in his vast personal fortune.

The 2021 rich list – who has the most wealth?

On Friday, the Bloomberg Billionaire Index was updated to show the latest figures for the richest people on the planet. For the first time in recent history, Jeff Bezos (worth $190 billion) looks like he could be dethroned by Pretoria-born American citizen Elon Musk (worth $170 billion, and gaining fast on the top spot) in the coming months.

As a naturalised resident of the US, Musk doesn’t count as a South African billionaire – which must be music to the ears of Johann Rupert, who’s monster net worth is still dwarfed by that of the tech whizz, who is now 21 times better off than the richest man in Mzansi. Still, it’s not like Mr Rupert will be losing sleep over his electricity bills any time soon…

What is Johann Rupert worth?

The Stellenbosch-based dollar-billion has now reached the $8 billion mark, for the first time in almost three years. His stock has increased steadily over the past nine months, making him one of the top 300 wealthiest people on Earth. Nicky Oppenheimer trails behind, with a net worth that’s roughly $900 million less than that of his compatriot.

Patrice Motsepe and Koos Bekker are both worth just under $3 billion respectively, as Michiel le Roux completes the quintet of dollar-billionaires – his fortune sits narrowly above the $1 billion cut-off point.

SA’s five dollar-billionaires for 2021 – who makes the cut?

All financial amounts sourced from Bloomberg and Forbes, based on the value of the US Dollar to the South African Rand ($1 : R14.66) on Friday 1 January 2021.

Name	Rank in South Africa	Industry	Net worth in dollars	Net worth in rand
Johann Rupert	#1	Luxury watches and investments	$8.02 billion	R117.5 billion
Nicky Oppenheimer	#2	Mining and investments	$7.15 billion	R104.8 billion
Patrice Motsepe	#3	Mining	$2.9 billion	R42.5 billion
Koos Bekker	#4	Entertainment (Naspers chair)	$2.8 billion	R41 billion
Michiel le Roux	#5	Finance (Capitec founder)	$1.2 billion	R17.6 billion