Remuneration committees have a remarkable ability to heap as much pointless generosity on their bosses as their bosses want, writes Ann Crotty. There’s something beautifully symmetrical about all those lovely zeroes and just the right amount of 1s. It’s almost poetic in its simplicity: R100,100,000. That’s how much one of the best — perhaps the best — CEOs of a food retailer in the country was paid for working for the 12 months to June 2016. It’s possible that Shoprite’s Whitey Basson did an awful lot of overtime in that period. He may even have worked 24/7. He’s that sort, superhuman. But you do begin to wonder. Does Basson hate his job at Shoprite so much that he needs the promise of that amount of dosh to lure him into the office every day? If that is the case then we can assume he won’t be there much longer. When you’ve lost your passion for a job and you have all the money you and your great, great grandchildren might ever need, eventually no amount of additional short-term inc...
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