Top bosses in South Africa raking in R1.6 million a month

South African chief executive officers’ total pay packages have dropped over the past year, but thanks to increases in their base salaries, they’re still earning over R1.6 million a month.

This is according to the latest PwC Directors Remuneration and Trends report, which looks at the average and median salaries paid to bosses of the top 200 companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

For 2024, the group noted that the median total package paid to South Africa’s top bosses declined by 1% to R19.7 million. This was down from R19.9 million in 2023.

The main hit to CEO pay came through bonuses, with long-term incentives (LTI) declining by 33% compared to 2023, as well as a 10% drop in short-term incentives (STI).

However, the base salary (guaranteed pay) for CEOs increased by 6%, with the average guaranteed salary now sitting at R10 million, and the median sitting at R8 million.

While the average salary reflects how well CEOs are paid overall, the median reveals the truer number.

For example, the average guaranteed pay for CEOs is R10 million. Those in the upper quartile (top 25%) earn an average of R11.5 million, while those in the bottom quartile (bottom 25%) earn just over R5.6 million.

This is reflected in STI and LTI as well. CEOs earning in the top 25% are pulling in far more than those in the bottom 25%, so the median shows the mid-point of the salary spectrum.

The table below outlines the differences:

Chief executive salaries are a hotly contested topic not only in South Africa but around the world.

Shareholders are increasingly taking a critical stance on executive remuneration—particularly where company leads fail to deliver promised results—however, 2024 marked a much more supportive environment for CEO pay.

According to PwC, given the backdrop of the challenging operating environment for many companies, shareholders have been more understanding of company struggles.

Economic factors including high inflation, increasing interest rates, and volatility in energy prices and money markets, alongside geopolitical events exerting pressure on supply chains, have all contributed to rising costs for both companies and their employees.

“Boards were faced with similar challenges in relation to executive pay and had to balance executive pay outcomes with the experience of all of their stakeholders,” PwC said.

Despite the challenges, voting patterns supported remuneration policies and their implementation.

In terms of the JSE Listings Requirements, both the remuneration policy and implementation report are subject to an annual non-binding shareholder vote and should be approved by at least 75% of the shareholders.

There has been high support for remuneration policies compared to last year. In 2024, 90.8% of votes supported remuneration policies (versus 84.3% in 2023), and 86.1% went in favour of implementing them (vs. 79.5% in 2023).

“Implementation reports continue to be subject to more scrutiny, but support from shareholders has increased compared to the prior period.

“In addition to the overall improvement in voting outcomes, the percentage of companies who received votes of less than 50% has also decreased. It is noteworthy that the majority of these companies received low levels of support for more than one reporting period,” PwC said.

Remuneration policies are expected to come under even more scrutiny with South Africa’s new company laws.

President Cyril Ramaphosa recently signed the Companies Amendment Act into law, where a new reporting system will make vertical pay gap disclosures mandatory for public and state-owned companies.

Relevant companies will need to share the following

• The total remuneration received by each director and prescribed officer in the company;

• The total remuneration of the employees with the highest and lowest total remuneration;

• The average total remuneration of all employees, median remuneration of all employees; and the remuneration gap reflecting the ratio between the total remuneration of the top 5% highest paid employees and the total remuneration of the bottom 5% of the lowest paid employees.

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