Chief executives at the 200 biggest companies on the JSE earned median total pay of R23.2 million in their latest financial year, according to a new PwC report. That works out to about R1.93 million a month.
The figure is 9% higher than the year before. PwC said most of the rise came from bonuses and long-term incentive awards, not from fixed salaries.
“The real story is not simply that executive pay has increased, but what is driving it. The increase has come mainly through incentives, particularly long-term incentives, rather than guaranteed pay,” said Makhosazana Mabaso, a PwC Reward Partner.
The findings come from PwC’s latest Directors Remuneration and Trends report. It looked at executive pay at the companies for the financial year to February 2026.
The report found that median long-term incentive payouts for CEOs jumped by 67%. Short-term incentives went up by 42%. In comparison, median guaranteed pay for CEOs rose by only 6% to R8.814 million.
Chief financial officers also earned more. Their median total pay rose by 7% to R13.489 million. Their long-term incentives grew by 54% and short-term incentives by 39%, while guaranteed pay rose by just 1% to R5.580 million.
PwC said the higher pay was linked to stronger company results and good vesting of incentive awards.
“For boards, the focus now is on making sure reward remains connected to performance and sustainable value creation, while balancing the expectations of executives, employees and shareholders,” Mabaso said.
Shareholders gave more backing to company pay reports this year, PwC said. Support for pay implementation reports rose from 83.8% in 2025 to 89.6% in 2026. The share of reports opposed by more than half of shareholders fell from 5.4% to 0.6%.
No pay policy resolution faced more than 50% opposition in 2026, compared with 1.2% in 2025. However, PwC said large sign-on awards without performance conditions are still being questioned. Big long-term incentive grants that are not properly explained also drew concern.
About 9.6% of pay policy resolutions and 9.8% of implementation report resolutions got shareholder support of between 50% and 75%.
The report comes after changes to the Companies Act on pay took effect on 22 May 2026. The changes set stronger rules on pay transparency and accountability to shareholders.
“Better pay data enables organisations to identify patterns, uncover potential gaps and make more informed remuneration decisions,” said Leila Ebrahimi, also a PwC Reward Partner.
Women still hold few of the top jobs. According to the report, women make up 10% of CEOs and 25% of CFOs at the JSE Top 200 companies.
The median guaranteed pay gap between male and female CEOs was 7% in 2026. Male CFOs received median guaranteed pay that was 2% higher than female CFOs.
Board fees also went up. Median fees for non-executive board members rose by 7.7%, while chairperson fees increased by 6.5%.
The median proposed yearly fee was R1.754 million for chairpersons and R1.509 million for deputy chairpersons. Lead independent directors were set to get R1.193 million, and board members R518,000.
Source: this article is based on reporting by IOL. Image: IOL. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice News desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Kgomotso Maake covers news and politics for Tzaneen Voice. Kgomotso reports on government, Parliament, municipalities, courts, crime and service delivery across South Africa, with a close eye on how national decisions reach towns like Tzaneen and the wider Limpopo province. Stories are written in plain English and focus on the facts: who made the decision, what it means, and what happens next.