LETTER: CEOs should help out

The mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, recently made a impassioned plea to the most fortunate to help house the homeless in LA.

The former CEO of Nissan, Carlos Ghosn, fell out of favour in Japan due to his exorbitant salary package by Japanese standards. Obscene salary packages for corporate CEOs are frowned upon in Japan. CEOs are expected to rather use company profits to improve the salaries of employees or plough them back into the company.

An SA CEO was recently reported to have earned more than R80m in the past financial year. Bear in mind that CEOs typically serve in this position for 10 years. It would really be a magnanimous gesture if the CEOs of big companies considered funding the education of talented children of the staff members who clean their offices or make tea for them. 

In this way the private sector could, decisively and emphatically, contribute towards poverty alleviation among the poorest of the poor. Education accompanied by a skilled workforce is essential for economic growth.

Poverty alleviation depends on the humanity and generosity of the private sector. Government grants may help people who are really desperate but grants will never alleviate poverty in our country.

Jeffrey Mothuloe
Via email

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