What SA’s tech CEOs earn

Datatec's Jens Montanana is the highest earning CEO among JSE-listed technology companies that have a market capitalisation of above R1bn. By Duncan McLeod.

Added by Duncan McLeod on 6 August 2012.
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An analysis of the annual reports of SA’s top technology companies — those with a market capitalisation above R1bn — show that Datatec CEO Jens Montanana is the highest paid CEO, at least among companies listed on the JSE. Montanana pipped MTN Group CEO Sifiso Dabengwa to the post, earning nearly US$3m in salary, bonuses and other benefits in the 2012 financial year.

Montanana’s take-home pay, when converted into rand at the current exchange rate of R8,20/$, was R24,3m, made up of $1,1m (R9,3m) in basic salary, $1,6m (R13,3m) in bonuses and a further $205 000 (R1,7m) in other benefits. Dabengwa, in the financial year to 31 December 2011, hauled in R22,5m, of which R14m was a performance-related bonus and R7,1m was in basic salary.

Vodacom Group CEO Pieter Uys completed the top three in the earnings stakes, taking home R16,5m in the 2012 financial year. Uys’s payment included a performance-related bonus of R9,4m.

EOH CEO Asher Bohbot was the poorest paid of tech company CEOs that have a market valuation north of R1bn. He took home R3,1m, including a bonus of R1,3m. However, for the sake of simplicity, TechCentral’s comparisons do not include gains from stock options. In the 2011 financial year, Bohbot received R13,8m through the exercising of share options.

Telkom is excluded from the comparisons as its most recent report, for the 2011 financial year, reflects only the pay of now long-departed CEO Reuben September.

The full breakdown of the top companies’ pay is in the table below.  — (c) 2012 NewsCentral Media

NameCompanyYearBasicBonusOther benefitsTotal12-month share price performance
Jens MontananaDatatecFY12$1,136m (R9,315 at R8,20/$)$1,623m (R13,308m)$205 000 (R1,681m)$2,964m (R24,305m)+27,8%
Sifiso DabengwaMTNFY11R7,133mR14,007mR1,388mR22,528m+17,5%
Pieter UysVodacomFY12R7,158mR9,427mR13 000R16,524m+14,1%
Craig VenterAltechFY12R5,217mR1,204mR953 000R7,374m-16,9%
Mark LevyBlue Label TelecomsFY11R5,965m-R84 000R6,049m+29,5%
Brett LevyBlue Label TelecomsFY11R5,958-R91 000R6,049m+29,5%
Benjamin MophatlaneBusiness ConnexionFY11R4,924m-R78 000R5,002m0%
Asher BohbotEOHFY11R1,829mR1,291m-R3,12m+65,2%

Share this article

  • http://twitter.com/einyasha Nyasha

    I would like to see this from an SMME perspective – give us entrepreneurs something to work with- for comparisons sake. Otherwise cool research.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Arno-Van-Der-Walt/619381360 Arno Van Der Walt

    How did Craig Venter motivate a R1.2m bonus when loosing market share and senior staff members? His either a great negotiator or his board members are made from rubber.

  • Eben

    Uhm, no? You still pay tax on the shares – capital gains tax. You pay tax on the dividends. If you are a director you have to let SENS (and thus everybody) know that you are withdrawing shares. What if the share price is going up and you don’t want to cash in?

    Getting the benefits in another way is much better!

  • http://twitter.com/TsipaA Gomi A. Thobejane

    No, you don’t pay tax on dividents. Dividents are tax free, I know this because I receive tax-free dividents for my shares. You can check with SARS if you don’t believe me. However, I agree with you that you’ll pay Capital Gains tax when you cash out your shares – provided you made profit of course.

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