PAY INEQUALITY
Zuma increase freeze sets the tone for CEO remuneration
In what looks like an uncomfortable reversal of roles, President Jacob Zuma may have put the country’s CEOs on the spot with his decision to endorse the recommendation of zero salary increase for top public office bearers in 2017. The recommendation will affect a large swathe of well-paid public-sector employees including ministers, deputy ministers, MPs, judges, mayors, traditional leaders, and councillors. And of course, the president. Remarkably, this sees the government setting the tone on a high-profile and controversial issue. The question now is whether the private sector will, as the CEO Pledge exhorts, do the right thing. While businesses do not rely on taxpayers to fund their executive remuneration, those that are listed (the most generous payers by a long stretch) do rely on pension-backed shareholders. Their extravagance also sets the tone for the government’s pay excesses as well as aggravating inequality. "The government is leading from the front on this issue and lead...
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