Let’s talk about CEOs, shall we?
You know, the big corporate kahunas to whom we should all be collectively grateful for the success of the for-profit economy.
They have been making noise of late; signing pledges to “help fix South Africa” as if they are not part of the problem. The latest pledge was signed last week by 115 “CEOs of South Africa’s leading corporations” who “underpinned their collective belief” in the country and “their determination to assist in realising its potential”. This is from a neatly crafted press release announcing the pledge.
Ah, your future is in good hands fellow countrymen. Captains of industry are navigating us off choppy waters and rescuing the doomed ship. Bravo! A round of applause is in order.
I like how they all use the same sanguine jargon to remind us of the significance of their contribution to public causes.
“As South African business leaders, we firmly believe in the immense potential of our country. We are committed to building it and have come together to address the current challenges with the aim of achieving sustainable, inclusive economic growth. Through strategic partnerships and focused interventions, we have the power to make a significant and positive impact on our nation, creating hope for all South Africans. We are resolutely committed to being a force for good,” our new saviours declared in unison.
The big bosses are going to turn the magic wand that makes them and their shareholders insanely wealthy into a force for good. Hear, hear!
They are helping Transnet turn things around so it can run more freight trains and deliver commodities to the ports on time. Minerals stuck in mines are not good for the economy, remember? The government can’t collect tax on them to pay the poor their R350 monthly share of the nation’s wealth and end universal hunger. Let them eat coal and iron ore!
The bosses are working with Eskom and the incapable government to help end load-shedding. Another round of applause. Soon they’ll deliver us from the darkness of stage 6.
Our misery is, of course, not without its rewards. The energy sector is already undergoing intense liberalisation. There are no more caps on embedded generation so anyone with deep pockets can start building power projects for self-use, or sell electricity to Eskom or to private clients. There’s a massive pipeline of private sector-funded power generation projects under construction or in late approval stages. A whole power sales market is being created out of Eskom’s incompetence and its addiction to coal. What a marvellously just transition for those guaranteed future flows of fat bonuses and dividends.
Business Unity SA vice-president and Discovery Group CEO Adrian Gore insists theirs is not just a symbolic gesture but a concrete commitment to driving change essential for economic recovery.
“With a growing number of CEOs on board, representing a wide range of industries, the magnitude of this pledge cannot be underestimated. By translating these partnerships into a collective action plan, the transformative power of these actions can extend beyond mere statistics — it can profoundly impact our nation, our communities and each individual citizen.”
All along we were scratching our heads thinking of how best to rescue the country from the ANC government’s administrative failures, not knowing our knights in shining armour were just around the corner in Sandton. They were in Stellenbosch surrounded by vineyards.
Who woulda thunk it? All along we were scratching our heads thinking of how best to rescue the country from the ANC government’s administrative failures, not knowing our knights in shining armour were just around the corner in Sandton. They were in Stellenbosch surrounded by vineyards.
Ok, let me try to be a little bit positive. This is a great development for the country. Leaders of multi-trillion rand corporations are rolling up their sleeves and getting directly involved to help resolve our self-inflicted problems.
This is unlike seven years ago when they romanticised poverty by pretending to spend the night on Nelson Mandela Bridge in the Joburg CBD in freezing conditions. Remember the CEO Sleepout? The idea was for them to spend a night on the street to supposedly get a feel of the conditions endured by the homeless while donating to charities that help the indigent.
What a PR disaster! They set up tents on the bridge, got armed security guarding its entry points because, duh, someone will try to rob the rich folk trying to wash away their guilt with a cheap gimmick. They also had throngs of support staff waiting on them. Talk is that many didn’t even spend the entire night on the bridge but ducked for the comfort of their mansions in Hyde Park and Sandhurst as soon as the cameras were off.
All that brouhaha when they could have just cut cheques to charity and gone about their luxurious lives. Thank God they canned that shitshow.
Talking about charity, maybe the CEOs might actually think about starting it at home. C-Suite executives collect millions in cash remuneration, bonus incentives and share options each year, sometimes in excess of R100m, when they manage to return higher dividends to shareholders. The wage gap between them and ordinary employees is diabolical.
According to a report compiled by nonprofit outfit Just Share, the average annual pay earned by the CEO of a JSE-listed company is 49 times the minimum wage of an ordinary worker.
In 2022, the CEO of Shoprite earned 1,081 times more than a worker who received the retailer’s internal minimum wage averaging about R58,700.
Don’t get me wrong. I really hope the involvement of corporates will make a difference. I’m dying for load-shedding to ease, for Transnet to get its house in order and for crime to be brought under control. Whatever extra help government receives from any quarter is welcome. But is this sudden urge to get involved not driven by the threat to bottom lines that is posed by a dysfunctional state?
The private sector has been on an investment strike for decades, choosing to hold on to extra profits rather than reinvesting them in the economy to help ease unemployment.
It must never assume that it isn’t part of the problem.
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