Over the weekend, the Sunday Times newspaper released its annual Rich List. At the top of it was Patrice Motsepe, who, according to the paper, is Mzansi’s richest man and worth about R22 billion rand. That’s billion with a B people! The list is based on known public assets, and does not include private onewhich the rich people ofs ten can hide very well. Collectively the top 20 wealthiest South Africans are said to be worth R112 billion.
What the list also reflected is that these top 20 richest South Africans got even richer over the past two years. The top earners in terms of salary and share options were Shoprite CEO Whitey Basson whose main brands are Shoprite and Checkers. He was paid R627 million in 2012 in salary, perks and share options. That’s equivalent to R52.3 million a month, or about R1.7 million per day every day for 365 days. He was followed by the CEO of mining company BHP Billiton Marius Kloppers whose board paid him R77.5 million.
Cosatu has apparently reacted to the list as expected, saying: “These figures make nonsense of the argument that companies need to pay such vast amounts in order to retain top skills, because more than 20 of the top 100 highest-paid executives in 2010 are no longer in their positions today,” through Patrick Craven.
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