Chief executive officers at South Africa’s state-owned enterprises get paid handsomely, with top execs taking home between R2 million and R5 million a year.
Mineral resources and energy minister Gwede Mantashe revealed how much these executives get paid in a parliamentary Q&A this week, breaking down the payouts for CEOs and other top executives at 15 state companies that report to him.
These salaries reflect state-owned companies within the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy only.
The highest-paid executive is the Central Energy Fund Group CEO, who takes home pay of R5.3 million a year. The lowest earners among executives are company secretaries, who pull in R1.2 million a year.
The table below outlines the top-paid chief executives:
| Company CEO | Annual Salary |
|---|---|
| Central Energy Fund Group | R5 295 000 |
| Strategic Fuel Fund Association | R4 991 770 |
| PetroSA Group | R4 371 900 |
| Mintek | R4 282 704 |
| Council for Geoscience | R4 042 420 |
| African Exploration Mining and Finance Corporation | R3 997 500 |
| South African Nuclear Energy Corporation | R3 200 000 |
| Petroleum Agency SA | R3 083 748 |
| NTP Radioisotopes | R2 910 000 |
| National Nuclear Regulator | R2 888 695 |
| South African National Energy Development Institute | R2 611 452 |
| South African Diamond & Precious Metals Regulator | R2 595 997 |
| National Energy Regulator of South Africa | R2 349 821 |
| National Radioactive Waste Disposal Institute | R2 306 915 |
| Mine Health and Safety Council | R2 233 480 |
| Pelchem | R2 191 300 |
| State Diamond Trader | R2 149 994 |
While company chief executives are the top earners, they are by no means the only ones pulling in multiple million-rand salaries.
Chief financial officers can earn between R1.4 million and R4.2 million; operations managers can pull between R1.6 million and R3.8 million; and regulators can earn around R2.2 million a year.
Earnings at bigger state companies like Eskom are often far higher.
Former Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter was paid over R7 million for his work at the embattled power utility. At the same time, current acting CEO Calib Cassim earned R4.9 million in his capacity as chief financial officer.
Transnet group CEO Portia Derby was paid R8.5 million in 2022, while Siza Mzimela, CEO of Transnet Freight Rail, got a R6.1 million package.
Employees working directly for the government are also well-paid.
South Africa’s ministers and deputy ministers draw a salary of between R2 million and R2.5 million a year, although they have not received an increase for the last few years.
Notably, some of the top earners at these smaller SOEs are paid better than the president.
While the 2023 budget made room for a salary of R4.2 million for president Cyril Ramaphosa in 2022, after salary freezes in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid-19, he only saw a bump in his pay to R3 million that year.
The deputy president, meanwhile, saw his pay climb to R2.9 million – this against the budget of R3.5 million for that year.
Ramaphosa has also been donating half his salary to charities since 2018.
The full salary schedules for DMRE state companies can be seen below:
Read: Bad news for salary and wage increases in South Africa
Artmotion S.Africa
