South Africa has one of the biggest pay gaps in the world, where chief executives get paid on average 140 times more than the average employee.<\/p>\n
According to one of South Africa’s richest men (and biggest earners), Johann Rupert, executive salaries in South Africa are justified, considering the value they bring to the companies they manage.<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s almost impossible to pay a top executive well enough,\u201d Rupert said in an interviewith the Rand Daily Mail.<\/p>\n
\u201cTake [Shoprite CEO] Whitey Basson: how can anyone tell me that Whitey is paid too much, considering the wealth he\u2019s created for shareholders?\u201d<\/p>\n
Rupert is chairman and CEO of luxury goods group Richemont, and serves as chairman of Remgro.<\/p>\n
For his role at Richemont, Rupert received 3 million euros (3.5 million Swiss francs), which at current rates is equivalent to just under R50 million.<\/p>\n
Similarly, Basson, who serves as CEO of Shoprite, has consistently taken home a salary of around R50 million, not taking a performance bonus.<\/p>\n
While R50 million is a hefty salary by anyone’s standards, it is still less than a third of what South Africa’s highest paid boss earns.<\/p>\n
SAB Miller – which recently entered into an acquisition process with brewing giant AB InBev – paid its chief executive Alan Clark R152 million (GBP7.07 million) in 2015, ranking him as best paid executive on the JSE.<\/p>\n
It must be noted that many of the companies listed below are not solely operating in South Africa, some are dual-listed multinationals.<\/p>\n
Many of these CEOs are paid in British pounds or US dollars, which have favourable conversation rates against the rand.<\/p>\n
All figures were taken from the latest annual reports (2014 and 2015), and converted at [USD 1 = ZAR 14.19] and [GBP 1 = ZAR21.50].<\/p>\n
| CEO<\/th>\n | Company<\/th>\n | Base Salary<\/th>\n | Total Salary<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alan Clark<\/td>\n | SAB Miller<\/td>\n | R24.4 million<\/td>\n | R152.0 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Andrew Mackenzie<\/td>\n | BHP Billiton<\/td>\n | R24.1 million<\/td>\n | R113.4 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Julian Roberts<\/td>\n | Old Mutual<\/td>\n | R19.6 million<\/td>\n | R90.6 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Mark Cutifani<\/td>\n | Anglo American<\/td>\n | R26.5 million<\/td>\n | R80.0 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Nicandro Durante<\/td>\n | BAT<\/td>\n | R24.5 million<\/td>\n | R77.7 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Ian Hawsworth<\/td>\n | Capco<\/td>\n | R11.1 million<\/td>\n | R67.5 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Johan van der Merwe<\/td>\n | Sanlam Investments<\/td>\n | R4.3\u00a0million<\/td>\n | R62.4 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| David Constable<\/td>\n | Sasol<\/td>\n | R17.7 million<\/td>\n | R52.0 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Whitey Basson<\/td>\n | Shoprite<\/td>\n | R49.7 million<\/td>\n | R50.1 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Johann Rupert<\/td>\n | Richemont<\/td>\n | R49.4 million<\/td>\n | R49.4 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Mark Jooste<\/td>\n | Steinhoff<\/td>\n | R37.5 million<\/td>\n | R48.8 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Simon Crutchley<\/td>\n | AVI<\/td>\n | R6.0 million<\/td>\n | R34.4 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n Total salary includes benefits, short term and long term incentives and bonuses\u00a0|\u00a0shaded indicates full year 2015<\/small><\/p>\n These are South Africa\u2019s biggest companies<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Highest paid banking CEOs in South Africa<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n |