Discovery’s head honcho took home R18.5 million this year. And that’s despite the company’s headline earnings – read profit – declining from R5.2 billion to R3.6 billion.
If Discovery were a state-owned enterprise, I’d question why the heck it was making profits at all. But, it isn’t. And it has shareholders to account to.
Adrian Gore’s salary was up 38 percent from the R13.4 million he earned last year, according to the company’s 2016 annual report. His earnings included a basic salary of R5.8 million, a performance bonus of R3.6 million and R7.8 million in a phantom scheme bonus.
But, heck, he leads a company that’s raking in bucks. Anybody who can, will belong to a medical aid – even if it’s going to cost 10 percent more next year.
I do. And I’m incredibly grateful that I have medical aid. If it wasn’t for private health care, I’d likely be dead. Dinkum.
(A few years ago, I was admitted to hospital with deplorable pain. I went through 4 analgesics in 4 hours – morphine – while they looked for the cause. The admitting doctor eventually pleaded on the phone to a professor to help. I’m going with I’m alive, even if I cannot have another child. And I shudder to think what would have happened at a state hospital – take two Panados. But, we’re not alone. Children die of meningitis in the UK, and that’s an easy test.)
The deplorable state of our government-owned medical facilities is a topic for another day. Let’s just say I am one of the lucky few who qualifies, and I’ll leave the NHI argument for later.
What I cannot understand is how on earth retiring Shoprite CEO Whitey Basson received a R50-million bonus, on top of his R50-million salary.
Sure, the chain of supermarkets is incredibly successful. Heck, I shop there, and earn eBucks on what I spend. But how difficult is it to run a chain of supermarkets?
MTN’s former CEO, Sifiso Dabengwa, was paid R23.7 million for “loss of office”, and that’s despite the multi-billion-rand fine the company paid because it didn’t follow the rules in Nigeria. Under his watch.
Shareholders are paying out for all of this. It comes straight out of profit because it’s an operational expense. And it impacts empowerment schemes because those are based on dividends, which are calculated on a profit ratio.
It’s no wonder people are agitating for better pay.
According to PayScale, the average salary for a financial manager – read someone who likely is a CA – isn’t even R600 000 a year. And that’s top notch stuff. So, let’s work that out: let’s say 40 percent tax, and ignore the basics that get taken off your pay, such as medical aid and pension.
That person’s take-home is R30 000. And they probably qualify for a bond of R1.7 million.
I don’t need to extrapolate just what sort of run-down, derelict home you can get in Joburg for that price.
Sure, properties in the UK are way more expensive – add another nought to the price to get a lousy up-and-down.
What kills me is: how on earth can someone earning a decent wage afford something the estate agents bill as a “middle class” home?
And how can someone earning what we pay the – euphemistically – working class buy anything at all, given that the average home in Gauteng costs around a bar. And that’s about R10 000 a month in repayments, which necessitates a salary of at least R30 000 a month.
And here we have CEOs taking millions home…
Thank goodness for King IV, which stipulates tighter measures on disclosing C-suite pay.
Because that gives us working class plebs more ammunition. Don’t get me wrong: if you have brilliantly led an organisation to perform, you deserve what you’re earning.
If you haven’t – and failed to incentivise staff through anything other than pay – you don’t deserve your salary.
So, this year, let’s forgo C-level increases, and plough that back where it’s needed. Which isn’t a wine farm in the Cape, but a school in a township. Which is in dire need of a library.
* Nicola Mawson is the online editor of Business Report. Follow her on Twitter @NicolaMawson or Business Report @busrep.
IOL