A shade over a quarter of a billion Rand.
That’s the average annual salary of the CEOs of the Top 10 companies on the JSE in 2023 (according to a recent report by PwC). On top of that, you can add the R30-odd million many are paid as a company performance bonus.
At the heart of South Africa’s governmental and corporate structures lies a tangled web of deceit and corruption, a cancer eating away at the nation’s progress. From embezzlement scandals to fraudulent tender processes, the landscape is rife with various forms of corruption that shackle the country’s potential.
You’d be hard-pushed to find anything positive to cling onto when it comes the state of both public and private sector corruption in South Africa. But, although I know two negatives will never make a positive, in this case, they might help us feel slightly less alone.
Spin Doctors vs Medical Doctors – When it comes to corruption in our healthcare system, whose side are you on?
“When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.”
Frédéric Bastiat
In the annals of corporate scandal, few stories have captured the public’s attention and ire like the R200 billion collapse of Steinhoff.
There’s a well-known saying that poverty breeds crime. Most of us who are fortunate to have regular employment could not, in all conscience, classify ourselves as poor, so why do many resort to criminal activities?
Emotional labour. Described by many as a “need to be nicer than might be considered natural,” it’s the work we do to manage our emotions for the benefit of others.
$3.3 billion.
That’s how much investment fraud cost the world last year, making it the most financially devastating cyber crime.
They don’t call it the Silly Season for nothing.