Title: SA's fat cats just getting fatter
Author: Brendan Peacock
Category: Economic Justice
Date: 11/30/2014
Source: The Times Live
Source Website: http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/2014/11/30/sa-s-fat-cats-just-getting-fatter
African Charter Article# 15: Everyone shall have the right to work under satisfactory conditions, receiving equal pay for equal work.
Summary & Comment: The share of total income, in South Africa, "going to the top 1% declined under apartheid and has been rapidly increasing since then and 20 years after democracy, only 14 of the top 100 richest South Africans are black." JJ
http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/2014/11/30/sa-s-fat-cats-just-getting-fatter
The Sunday Times Rich List , to be published next week, shows that three mining bosses are among the top 10 richest in the country - Glasenberg (worth R60-billion), Patrice Motsepe (worth more than R18.4-billion), and Des Sacco (R13.5-billion). By contrast, mineworkers continue to fight for a R12500 monthly minimum wage. The disclosures about high pay have drawn widespread condemnation.
A Sunday Times analysis shows that the best-paid chief executive last year, Old Mutual boss Julian Roberts, who took home R73-million, earned as much as 483 times the much-contested R12500 per month.
Among companies with headquarters in South Africa, Sasol CEO David Constable earned R4.4-million a month, about 383 times the mineworkers' demand. Shoprite CEO Whitey Basson, who made R49.6-million last year - the same he earned the previous year - still made 333 times more than the R12500 figure.
Chris Griffith, whose Anglo American Platinum retrenched many workers last year, took home R12.9-million last year, including a R4-million bonus - 86 times the R12500 demand. He courted condemnation in May with his comments defending executive pay, when he said: "I'm not on strike. I'm not demanding to be paid what I'm not worth."
He and his 11 executives and top managers were awarded R25.3-million in a bonus share scheme over three years. Just days after making them, Griffith was forced to withdraw his remarks.
In all, eight South African firms paid their chief executives more than 300 times the salary sought by miners, while 31 companies paid their leaders more than 100 times as much.
The Sunday Times list has become a source of controversy in various quarters. The businessmen who find themselves on the list complain that it is unfair to have the extent of their wealth made public, while groups such as Cosatu say it shows just how unequal South African society remains.
Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said this week: "It's not surprising at all ... there is truth in the saying that the opulence of a few explains the poverty of the many.
"Those who were ready to condemn the legitimate demands of mineworkers hopefully will be ready to condemn this opulence which is now being brazenly demonstrated. Shame on all of these who were ready to call police to 'maintain order' when mineworkers were fighting against this disorder."
The Sunday Times Rich List also reveals that 20 years after democracy, only 14 of the top 100 richest South Africans are black. The 14 include Motsepe, Exxaro founder Sipho Nkosi (29th on the list with a fortune of R1.36-billion) and former ANC stalwart Saki Macozoma (45th with R792-million).
Professor Peter Alexander, holder of the South African research chair in social change at the University of Johannesburg, said: "Ironically, in South Africa the share of total income going to the top 1% declined under apartheid and has been rapidly increasing since then. With the exception of a tiny black elite, the people who have benefited the most from ANC rule are wealthy whites."
Women, it appears, have fared even worse than black super-earners, with only three women in the top 100 - Tracey Wardle King at 36th, Judy Dlamini at 50th and lawyer Sharon Wapnick at 74th.
King, who is only 30, was appointed to the board of MICROMega, in which her father, Dave King, has shares, in January. But as a beneficiary of the King family trust, her fortune now works out to just over R1-billion.
Entrepreneur Dlamini, executive chair of Mbekani Investment Holdings who is married to FirstRand CEO Sizwe Nxasana, is the 50th richest person in the country, up 14 places with R739-million.
Nxasana did not fare too badly either as the 55th best paid executive of companies listed on the JSE with a 2013 package of just over R20-million.
Floyd Shivambu of the Economic Freedom Fighters criticised those on the list, calling the results "criminal, but not surprising". "A small minority of people are still becoming very rich out of our country's resources.
"ANC politicians don't see anything wrong with the system which creates such inequality, because they are benefiting from it. The figures show horrible greed. These individuals cannot have use for all that money."
The fact that South Africa's richest keep getting wealthier, while those at the bottom of the ladder are facing job cuts and below-inflation increases, was underscored by the country's largest corporate takeover yet this week. Pepkor, which makes its money selling discounted goods to poorer South Africans, was sold to Steinhoff for R63-billion.
When the deal is finalised, it will catapult Christo Wiese, the retail magnate who built up the modern Shoprite, above Glasenberg. He will get 19.7% of Steinhoff, which will add to his 15% of Shoprite, 34% of Brait, 35% of Invicta and 19.3% of Pallinghurst Resources.
Wiese said this week that his presence on the rich lists "doesn't worry me, and I don't believe it" - mainly because there are many South Africans with tremendous wealth that is not detected because it is not held in JSE-listed companies.
While the previous two years were a tussle between Motsepe and retail king Wiese for first slot, Glasenberg shot to the top of the list when his mining giant listed on the JSE last year.
Glasenberg has an 8.3% stake in the merged entity of Glencore and Xstrata, which today has a market capitalisation of R748-billion.
In third spot, thanks to Chinese internet company Tencent's precipitous rise in value, is outgoing Naspers boss Koos Bekker, who has moved up five places from last year's rankings with R19.02-billion.
Bekker, whose wealth has almost tripled since last year, like many other mega-rich has other personal pursuits such as his Babylonstoren estate in the Western Cape which has a 14-room hotel and restaurant.
In fourth position is the only black representative in the top 10, Motsepe. A perennial finisher in the top 10, Motsepe's wealth has been trimmed from R22.6-billion last year to R18.47-billion this year, and he has fallen two places in the rankings as a result of tough times at African Rainbow Minerals. Motsepe is also known for spending lavishly on his hobby - owning premier league soccer club Mamelodi Sundowns.
In fifth position, Aspen Pharmacare's CEO Stephen Saad holds the candle for Durban, with R15.51-billion, two positions lower this year but 50% richer than last year.
The biggest climbers in this year's top 100 richest list include Steinhoff's CEO Markus Jooste, up seven spots at 18th with R1.7-billion, while Naspers financial director Stephan Pacak has climbed 13 spots to 23rd. The biggest climber, though, is Coronation Fund Managers CEO Anton Pillay, who has moved up 197 positions to 83rd, with R441.1-million in shares.
Other regulars include Pick n Pay's Ackerman family and the Ruperts. The Rupert family's Rembrandt Trust is at eighth on the Rich List with R9.46-billion. Johann Rupert - known for his love of vintage cars and his wine estates - himself came in at 22nd with R2.53-billion.
Those working in South Africa's state-owned companies have not done too badly either. Former auditor-general Terence Nombembe earned R8.8-million, which sent him 83 positions up the list and was triple his salary of the previous year.
Eskom's outgoing chief executive Brian Dames earned R8.6-million, up 10 spots from the previous year, but his entire package on leaving the parastatal was R15.4-million.
- Additional reporting by Jan-Jan Joubert and Thabo Mokone
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