No raise on top of Eskom boss Brian Molefe's R9.4m salary

Cape Town – Eskom CEO Brian Molefe, who received a total salary package of R9.467m in the 2015/16 financial year, will not be getting a salary increase in the next year, the power utility’s spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe said.

Speaking to Fin24 by phone, Phasiwe said Eskom employees’ salaries are determined by a remuneration committee which then makes recommendations to Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown. “But Eskom’s executive committee will not be receiving any salary increases,” he stressed.

In Eskom’s annual report of 2015/16, it was stated that Molefe, who joined the power utility in an acting position in April 2015, earned R6.973m since his appointment up until the end of the financial year on March 31 2016. For the period Molefe also received a short-term bonus payment of R2.469m, which brings his total annual remuneration package to R9.467m. 

In addition, Molefe was awarded shares in April 2015 to the value of R4.727m, stated as “award performance shares payable in June 2018 at R1.26 per share”.

Salaries totalled R31.525m for the 2015/16 financial year, which brought the power utility bosses’ total remuneration packages to R75.326m, compared to R50.610m in the previous financial year. 

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“Brian Molefe is the highest-paid state-owned entity CEO in South Africa,” DA spokesperson on Public Enterprises, Natasha Michael told Fin24. “We cannot afford for millions of rands to be plundered into underserved salaries while there is still much uncertainty in the energy sector and the sustainability of our electricity supply."

Ted Blom, independent energy analyst, said in a submission made to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) that salary increases within the public sector continue to match, or exceed, that of the private sector.

“Net wages after taxes in the South African government are higher than net wages in Germany, Sweden and Finland, on a dollar purchasing power parity basis,” he said, “while government salaries account for more than 12.8% of GDP”.

“When the salaries paid by state-owned enterprises are added, this figure increases to more than 14.3% of GDP,” Blom said.