It’s not like he really needs the money, given that our president has a few rands squirrelled away for a rainy day, but now Cyril Ramaphosa can add another decent chunk of change to his net worth.

He will draw a salary of R3,6 million a year during his reign as top dog, and when you compare that to what other world leaders earn it holds up very well.

Zuma, for what it’s worth, was pulling in around R2,9 million per year, but hiked up his salary towards the end of his tenure.

Maybe that money will come in handy to fund his latest legal battle?

Before we get to the table of top earners, here’s Business Tech:

Converted to dollars (at current rates) Ramaphosa’s proposed salary translates to just over $305,000.

Despite ‘suffering’ from a salary freeze for a third year in a row, Singapore’s prime minister Lee Hsien Loong [below] remains the highest paid leader in the world.

Singaporean officials said the salary freeze would remain in place in 2018, however the country’s leader earns the dollar equivalent of $2.2 million a year.

The second highest politically appointed earner is the chief executive of Hong Kong, Carrie Lam, who receives a salary of KH$5 million a year – roughly $638,000 at current rates.

This is followed by the current president of the Swiss Confederation, Alain Berset, who will earn around $480,000. The Swiss Confederation president has a term of one year, and gets a salary that is only adjusted for inflation. In 2017 this is just over 453,000 francs.

Australia’s prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull earns a salary of $415,000, just ahead of US president Donald Trump, who earns the standard presidential salary of $400,000, which he has promised to donate to charitable causes.

I will believe that last bit when I see it, because Donald has a habit of breaking promises about donations to charity.

A complete list of the top 11 earners, and then some fellow BRICS countries for a point of comparison:

Let’s all take a moment to chuckle at the idea that Putin only pulls in R1,3 million a year.

Not that he should feel obliged, but wouldn’t it send a great signal if Cyril decided to donate his salary to charity, or tabled the idea of reducing that salary so that it was more in line with other countries with similar GDPs?

[source:businesstech]