South African billionaire, Johann Rupert displaces Aliko Dangote to become Africa’s richest man

According to Forbes Magazine, South African Johann Rupert has surpassed Nigerian billionaire businessman Aliko Dangote to become the wealthiest person in Africa.

According to Forbes Real-time Global Billionaires Ranking, Rupert presently has a net worth of $12 billion, while Dangote is in second place with a net worth of $10.8 billion as of Friday.

Due to recent operational charges on the foreign currency market made by the Central Bank of Nigeria, which caused the Naira’s value to decline versus the US dollar, Dangote’s net worth decreased.

Dangote lost the top spot for the first time since 2008, when he made his Forbes Billionaire Index debut, when his wealth fell by $2.80 billion, from $13.5 billion to $10.7 billion.

Rupert’s net worth climbed by $1.3 billion, from $10.7 billion to $13.5 billion, making him the richest person in Africa.

Despite suffering a $1.86 billion loss for the year thus far, Dangote is still the wealthiest person in Africa, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, with $16.8 billion.

With a net worth of $13.6 billion and a gain of $2.67 billion so far this year, Rupert was ranked second.