Ever heard the name Mansa Musa?

Perhaps not, but he is widely referred to as the richest person of all time.

Born in 1280, he came to rule large swaths of West Africa, and historians say he was so rich that it’s almost impossible to fathom.

Thankfully, with the three current richest kings in Africa, we can put a figure on their wealth, which is what Business Insider SA has done.

We’re talking about Swaziland’s Mswati III, Fredrick Obateru Akinrutan of Nigeria, and Mohammed VI of Morocco, and their combined wealth clocks in at R89 billion.

Let’s start with Swaziland’s King Mswati III, who is pictured above:

He is the current king of Eswatini (Swaziland), a country in Southern Africa. Forbes estimates that he has an estimated net worth of at least R2.8 billion, which is said to come from investments.

In the 2014 national budget, the country’s national assembly reportedly allocated R861 million for the King’s annual household budget. In 2018, the 50-year-old monarch got a birthday gift for himself- a plane and an airport worth R2.6 billion. He owns several luxury cars, including a R7 million Maybach.

King Mswati III has been criticised for having an extravagant lifestyle while the rest of the country suffers.

Fair enough, when you consider that he zooms around on a private jet, and his citizens remain amongst the poorest in the world.

Fredrick Obateru Akinrutan

Meet the traditional ruler of Ugbo Kingdom, a town in Ondo State, southwestern Nigeria. He has an estimated net worth of at least R4.2 billion, which comes mostly from his investments in the oil industry. He is the founder of Obat Oil, one of Nigeria’s largest private oil companies.

He spends his money on things like a custom built 2012 Rolls Royce similar to that of Queen Elizabeth II and in 2014 he revealed that he has a R14 million watch. Obateru is believed to be the first black person to buy a 2014 Bentley.

So those first two rulers account for ‘just’ under R8 billion or so, which means our third ruler is sitting very, very pretty.

Mohammed VI

This is the richest King in Africa. He is the reigning leader of Morocco. He has an estimated net worth of R81 billion, according to Forbes.

His wealth comes mostly from investments. He controls Moroccan investment holding company Societe Nationale d’Investissement, whose assets are estimated to be worth more than R141 billion.

He also owns one of the world’s largest phosphate reserves and has investments in the financial, mining, telecommunications, and distribution sectors.

Tough gig.

For a point of comparison, last year, Queen Elizabeth’s net worth was said to be around £370 million (R6,9 billion). According to Quartz, that doesn’t even land her a spot in the ‘top 10 richest British aristocrats’ list:

Still, she isn’t exactly ploughing the fields with the laypeople.

[source:businsidersa]