Business

The man who got paid R900,000 every week for nine years to run the biggest retailer in South Africa

Malcolm Libera

 ·28 Jun 2026

Over the past nine years, Shoprite has paid its CEO, Pieter Engelbrecht, a combined R429.9 million, equivalent to roughly R918,600 a week or R130,869 a day over the period.

While this pay reflects Engelbrecht’s long tenure at the company, it also highlights Shoprite’s remuneration structure, which increasingly ties executive pay to performance rather than fixed salaries.

Engelbrecht joined Shoprite in 1997 and spent a decade leading the group’s executive projects office, where he helped develop several of the retailer’s businesses.

During that time, he helped establish Money Market, Usave, and LiquorShop, while overseeing strategic acquisitions, including Computicket and Transpharm Pharmaceutical Wholesalers.

He was appointed an alternate director of Shoprite Checkers in 2003 and became chief operating officer in 2005, serving alongside former CEO Whitey Basson for more than a decade.

Over this period, Engelbrecht focused on reducing operating costs and expanding the retailer’s footprint across Africa before succeeding Basson as chief executive on 1 January 2017.

Since taking over, Engelbrecht has overseen significant growth for the retailer. Shoprite has expanded to more than 3,600 stores across the continent and employs nearly 170,000 people, making it South Africa’s largest private-sector employer.

His tenure has also included the launch of Checkers Sixty60, which transformed on-demand grocery delivery in South Africa and the rollout of the Checkers Xtra Savings rewards programme.

He also led the repositioning of the Checkers brand into more premium fresh-food and convenience shopping.

An analysis of Shoprite’s annual reports by BusinessTech shows that Engelbrecht’s pay package has evolved significantly since he became CEO.

When he took over in 2017, the board introduced a new remuneration structure tailored specifically to his appointment.

The board noted that his “executive service contract and remuneration arrangements differ from those of the previous CEO” and that market benchmarks for similarly sized retailers had been considered.

It’s all about performance

During the first few years, his total remuneration remained relatively stable at around R20 million to R21 million a year, excluding exceptional share-based awards.

Although his reported pay reached R31.2 million in 2017, this was largely due to a once-off long-term incentive payout from his previous role worth about R16 million. Because of this, Engelbrecht’s remuneration declined to R20.3 million in 2018.

Compensation increased during the Covid-19 period as Shoprite continued to perform strongly. The company said short-term incentives were linked to trading profit and that the business achieved 99% of its target in 2020.

By 2021, performance exceeded expectations, with the board reporting that the chief executive’s short-term incentive reached 112% of target.

The biggest shift came from 2022 onward as long-term share awards matured while Shoprite’s share price appreciated significantly. Total remuneration more than doubled to R63.4 million in 2022 and remained at similar levels in 2023.

According to the company, shares granted under its executive share plan in 2019 vested at R222.16 after originally being awarded at an average price of R126.18, which substantially increased the value of Engelbrecht’s incentive awards.

However, following this, the remuneration committee also tightened its approach to executive incentives during this period. 

The committee stated that its “variable remuneration structure is now based entirely on performance” following the removal of the co-investment component from the long-term incentive plan.

Pay increased again in 2024 and 2025, surpassing R80 million a year. Shoprite attributed the rise partly to the introduction of an Executive Deferred Incentive.

The company also pointed to continued strength in its share price, noting that performance shares awarded in 2020 benefited from a 46% increase in value, based on the year-end volume-weighted average price.

By 2025, the composition of Engelbrecht’s remuneration had shifted heavily toward incentives rather than guaranteed pay.

Shoprite reported that variable remuneration accounted for 76% of his total package, which shows how closely his earnings have become linked to the retailer’s financial performance and share price.