Mamelodi Sundowns Owner, Patrice Motsepe Tops South Africa’s Wealthiest Individuals in 2018

You can feel rich in everyday life. When you take your significant other to a restaurant and leave a 20% tip for the super nice server. When you redeem your The Betway South Africa welcome offer and place a nonchalant bet on the Bafana Bafana’s upcoming game. When you finally buy the phone, the pair of shoes, the watch or the purse you’ve been craving for. But I bet the people on our list below are feeling rich in their every waking moment. Behold, the list of the wealthiest South Africans this year (from Forbes’ list of “The World’s Billionaires”).

Stephen Saad

Stephen Saad, with a net worth of $1.2 billion, occupies the 1867th spot on Forbes’ 2018 list of billionaires around the world. Saad is the founder and chief executive of Aspen Pharmacare, Africa’s largest producer of generic medicines. He started his career at a drug distribution company before becoming a millionaire and founding his business in 1997. Aside from being the chairman of his massive pharma company, he is also chairing the Cell C Sharks, a rugby union team in Durban.

Patrice Motsepe

African Rainbow Minerals founder and executive chairman Patrice Motsepe is the fourth wealthiest South African – his net worth of $2.4 billion was only good for the 1020th place on Forbes’ list this year. After providing contract mining services, he bought his first mines in 1997, when the price of gold was at a record low. His first purchases were followed by several others. In 2002, he won the Best Entrepreneur Award.

Koos Bekker

For our next name, we move further down on Forbes’ list to number 924 – there, we find Jacobus Petrus “Koos” Bekker, chairman of the media group Naspers, with a net worth of $2.6 billion. Bekker, along with a few young colleagues, founded one of the first pay television networks in the world. Bekker grew Naspers into a $45 billion company while not drawing a salary or any bonus – he was only compensated via stock option grants.

Johann Rupert

With a net worth of $7 billion made from luxury goods, Johann Rupert is the 228th richest man in the world and the second richest man in South Africa. For those unfamiliar with his name, he is the chairman of Compagnie Financiere Richemont, the company responsible for luxury brands like Cartier and Montblanc.

Nicky Oppenheimer

Nicholas F. “Nicky” Oppenheimer has fallen to the 202nd place on Forbes’ list from the 199th last year – this in spite that his net worth has increased from $7 billion to $7.7 billion. He is the grandson of Sir Ernest Oppenheimer, founder of the Anglo American Corporation that he joined in 1968. Oppenheimer is the second richest individual in Africa, only overtaken by Nigerian business magnate Aliko Dangote (worth $14.1 billion).