R105 billion jackpot for South Africa’s richest men

South Africa has one more dollar billionaire ranked among the global elite in 2025, with seven ultra-wealthy individuals now making the cut for Forbes’ annual billionaire ranking.

The collective wealth of these seven men has also increased by R105.2 billion since April 2024.

South Africa’s billionaires a worth a combined $36 billion (R675 billion) in 2025, having lifted their wealth significantly over the past year, despite the market turmoil of the Trump presidency in the United States.

Luxury goods tycoon and perennial wealthiest man in the country, Johann Rupert, again comes out on top of the local ranking having boosted his wealth by $1.8 billion to a total net worth of $14 billion.

The rest of the order is also largely unchanged, with diamond magnate Nicky Oppenheimer ranked second, followed by media owner Koos Bekker and minerals boss Patrice Motsepe.

A change from 2024 is that Bekker has overtaken Motsepe’s wealth in 2025.

Bekker’s wealth is mostly tied up in Naspers and Prosus, while Motsepe’s wealth is based on his holdings in African Rainbow Minerals and African Rainbow Capital.

The changes from 2024 to 2025 reflect the respective performances of these businesses over the last year.

Retail billionaire Christo Wiese and Capitec founder Michiel Le Roux have also stuck to the ranking, having re-entered in recent years.

Le Roux entered the Forbes ranking in 2021, and experienced some ups and downs over the years.

He almost dropped out of the ranking in 2023 due to the rand’s depreciation, but has seen his wealth boom, almost doubling since 2024.

Wiese, meanwhile, was a frequent feature on the Forbes ranking until his wealth crashed along with the fall of Steinhoff in 2017/18.

His fortunes were unfortunately tied up in Steinhoff, having sold his majority stake in Pepkor for a 20% share of the ill-fated retail giant.

When massive accounting fraud was uncovered at Steinhoff, its share value tanked over 95%, taking a significant chunk of Wiese’s net worth along with it.

However, thanks to his holdings in Shoprite and some recoveries from the Steinhoff mess, the businessman showed remarkable resilience and re-entered the Forbes rankings in 2024, once again a global billionaire.

South Africa’s ‘newest’ billionaire

The biggest change from 2024’s ranking is the re-entry of PSG founder and investor, Jannie Mouton, who was last ranked among South Africa’s richest in 2017.

Mouton, known as the “boere Buffett”, is a long-time investor building and building great businesses such as PSG Konsult, Curro, and even Capitec.

He stepped down as the non-executive chair and director of PSG Group and its subsidiaries with immediate effect in November 2018 due to medical reasons.

Mouton’s re-entry onto the Forbes list, with his net worth estimated at $1.5 billion, means that his wealth has grown by a minimum of $501 million over the past year.