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BL Premium reports that trade, industry & competition minister Ebrahim Patel said on Wednesday that the government was not seeking to prescribe the salary structures of executives in public companies.
Speaking at a news conference ahead of the release of the Companies Amendment Bill for public comment, Patel said the proposed changes to legislation would seek to foster greater pay transparency in the hope that this would nudge shareholders and stakeholders to be more proactive in tackling the ever-widening income gap. “The bill does not seek to propose what the ratios between executive and worker pay should be; instead it proposes transparency and empowers shareholder voting to be more effective than is the case. There is no question, however, that there is widespread public concern about existing pay practices and the current regulatory regime,” Patel stated. The amendments to the Companies Act will seek to implement stronger governance of excessive director pay and enhanced transparency of ownership and financial records. According to the bill, which is due to be published on Friday, companies will be required to publish details of their highest- and lowest-paid employees, average and median remuneration, and the gap between the top 5% highest-paid and the bottom 5% lowest-paid employees. The bill will provide that where remuneration and benefits are received by company directors or prescribed officers, such executives must be named in the annual financial statements. This is, however, limited to companies that are required in terms of the existing act to have their annual financial statements audited. The bill will also provide shareholders with better tools to respond to how remuneration issues are dealt with in companies.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Bekezela Phakathi at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
- Read too, SA companies must publish pay gap between bosses and workers, draft law proposes, at Fin24
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page