{"id":846464,"date":"2025-12-24T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=846464"},"modified":"2025-12-24T11:49:32","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T09:49:32","slug":"south-africa-has-over-37830-millionaires-in-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/846464\/south-africa-has-over-37830-millionaires-in-government\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa has over 37,830 millionaires in government"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Data from the Department of Public Service and Administration show that over 37,800 government employees are paid more than R1 million per annum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Renowned economist Dawie Roodt stated that this type of remuneration puts a strain on the country\u2019s fiscal position, especially when South Africa\u2019s productivity does not match the paychecks.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana noted the first mention of this type of earnings in the 2023 Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He revealed that the number of government employees earning over R1 million per year has risen from 10,000 in 2013\/14 to over 55,000 in 2023\/24.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following this, the Department of Public Service and Administration was asked to confirm these statistics in Parliament in late 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The department noted that the number of government employees who earned such a salary was far less than that indicated in the MTBPS. However, it was still alarmingly high. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The department shared a table with this information, revealing that 37,839 government employees earn over R1 million annually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are 28,343 employees who earn an average of R1.08 million annually. A further 6,754 employees earn R1.23 million per year, and 1,994 earn R1.24 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the high end, 631 government employees get R1.74 million annually, and 117 earn an average of R2.16 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The state\u2019s salary bill for government employees earning over R1 million annually is R45.35 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Renowned economist Dawie Roodt has raised serious concerns about the fact that more than 37,800 government employees earn over R1 million a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roodt questioned whether the quality and output of South Africa\u2019s civil service justify such high remuneration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He argued that based on performance, a very large number of civil servants do not earn that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He told BusinessTech that this concern is particularly stark in a country with extremely high unemployment, where \u201ca million rand plus is quite a lot of money.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In that context, Roodt said he believes civil servants are \u201cin many instances just overpaid and underworked.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strain on the country\u2019s fiscal position<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Economist Dawie Roodt<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

He acknowledged that there are skilled and capable individuals in the public sector, adding that some may even deserve higher pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, he said he is not convinced that 37,800 of them should get more than a million rand annually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond the million-rand earners, Roodt said the broader public-sector wage bill highlights deep structural problems in South Africa\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He pointed out that average salaries across the country are \u201cmuch, much lower,\u201d while unemployment remains exceptionally high, which makes public-sector pay stand out even more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These factors, he said, all suggest that South African civil servants are highly overpaid, especially when compared to their day-to-day responsibilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He further cited data indicating that civil servant compensation amounts to around 17% of GDP. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the equivalent of their salaries,\u201d he said, noting that by international standards, South Africa\u2019s public servants are paid very generously, as a percentage of total state expenditure, and as a percentage of GDP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roodt warned that the political dynamics in South Africa make meaningful reform unlikely. He described the wage bill as a major problem, but one that is \u201cunlikely to be fixed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reason, he explained, is that Cosatu, which represents most civil servants, is part of the tripartite alliance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, \u201ccivil politicians simply won\u2019t say that public servants are overpaid, because they represent a very important chunk of potential votes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This political reality, he said, leaves the country stuck with a system few leaders are willing to challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking ahead, Roodt said he would like to see civil servant salary increases held well below inflation, ideally \u201cwell below 3% over the next number of years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, he expressed little confidence that this would happen, pointing to recent wage demands such as Eskom workers asking for 15%, with Eskom already offering more than inflation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He described this as the kind of trap in which South Africa finds itself. Ultimately, Roodt argued that the country must either reduce public-sector salaries or dramatically increase productivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said he does not object to officials being highly paid, but stressed that \u201cthe quality of service just sucks in South Africa, from policing and education to healthcare.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This, he said, shows that \u201ctheir productivity simply doesn\u2019t match their wages,\u201d placing further strain on the country\u2019s fiscal position.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Data from the Department of Public Service and Administration show that over 37,800 government employees are millionaires.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":828044,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[1459,3796,853],"class_list":["post-846464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-dawie-roodt","tag-national-treasury","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=846464"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846464\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":846779,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846464\/revisions\/846779"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/828044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=846464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=846464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=846464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}