In 2012 the highest paid South African exec received a salary of R190.7 million. That massive paycheque belonged to the then chief executive of SABMiller, Graham Mackay. But that’s chump change for the SA exec who earned R1.8 billion in the same year.

Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies has recently put the spotlight on the large chasm between the rich and the poor in SA. In 2012 “the highest-paid chief executive earned 51,000 times what someone earns on the child support programme. That’s the level of inequality that we have in South Africa,” said Davies on Tuesday.

But Davies’s calculation of salary excludes income from dividend payouts. If you take that into account, the highest earner would have taken away 486,000 times what someone earns on a child support grant – R1.8 billion. That prestige goes to Glencore Xtrata’s chief executive, Ivan Glasenberg. In 2012, Glasenberg earned a modest salary of R15,6 million, with the rest coming from dividends.

Here are some more earnings for 2012.

[ Source : Mail&Guardian ]