From Secunda to Ramaphosa – contributors to South Africa’s rich list

News recently broke that Elon Musk is now the richest man in the world. South Africans will be quick to point out that Musk was born in Mzansi, but he has certainly moved on from his country of birth and currently spends his riches and invests his resources and understanding of tech and sustainability globally. According to reputable indexes like Forbes, the Sunday Times Rich List, BusinessTech, Investing.com and others, South Africa has a multitude of really rich people who still reside in the country – not away in the United States or United Kingdom. There are a good few young South Africans who became really rich on the back of their lottery winnings. Take, for instance, a 30-something engineer who won almost R150 million on the SA Powerball. Now, subject to how or if he invested that money, it could stretch a lot further than expected. The Secunda engineer might not feature among the following richest South Africans, but he is an exemplary case in terms of having a lot of money because of proactive actions and lucrative rewards. South African Nicky Oppenheimer is said to be worth over R100 billion. Involved in diamond mining and the former chairman of Anglo American, Oppenheimer has evidently or arguably used his financial savvy to better his life, his family life and others around him. “I am one of the affluent rich living the good life. But I like to think that I am doing my bit to resolve the problems of Africa and am certainly committed to Africa in the long run,” he once said. At last count, Johann Rupert was effectively second to Oppenheimer’s net worth. Rupert is estimated to be worth around R80 billion. An entrepreneur at heart and one of the most famous business tycoons in South Africa, he was once quoted as saying: “The best entrepreneurs that I’ve met in my life all have a touch of paranoia and not a lot of hubris. They always worry that someone is going to eat their breakfast while they’re sleeping.” One can’t look past Allan Gray when considering the richest people in South Africa. His investment company continues to serve 100s of thousands, if not millions, of South Africans with vast and limited financial portfolios. His net worth has been said to be just under a quarter of a billion rand. There is a lot to be said about Gray and how he has, in some ways, bridged the divide between blue and white-collar financing. The everyday South African citizen on the street can now ostensibly invest in markets that were previously unapproachable to those who were not super wealthy. South Africans have been seeing a lot of Cyril Ramaphosa on the television of late. He has been addressing the country in person a lot more than in the past. It’s important to remember that Ramaphosa was a successful businessman before he became the president of the country. In many ways, he is still involved in business, but more objectively than before. His net worth is somewhere in the region of R7 billion.