Trade and Industry Minister Ebrahim Patel says his department will finalise the Companies Amendment Bill in Cabinet within three months, which aims to narrow the gap between the highest-paid and lowest-paid employees at listed companies.<\/p>\n
The proposed Bill, published for public comment in 2021, said that listed companies would have to disclose the ratio of the top-paid to the bottom-paid 5% of workers.<\/p>\n
Speaking before Parliament, Patel said that finalising the Bill will help to address South Africa’s inequality issues.<\/p>\n
According to the 2021, Gini Index<\/a>, which measures inequality via income distribution, South Africa had the worst income inequality in the world.<\/p>\n The Bill also aims to ensure stronger governance on excessive director pay and enhanced transparency on ownership and financial records, the minister previously said.<\/a><\/p>\n In April 2023, the average nominal take-home pay was R14,534, which marks a major decline from the R15,170 recorded a year prior.<\/p>\n \u201cAs companies come under strain from the harsh load shedding, high production costs, rising interest rates and moderating demand, the environment remains unfavourable for comfortable wage increases or job creation,\u201d BankservAfrica<\/a> said.<\/p>\n \u201cOrganisations will likely remain in \u2018survival model\u2019 for an extended period of time.\u201d<\/p>\n However, executives at South Africa’s major mining and banking companies continue to earn significantly more.<\/p>\n