Shoprite’s CEO Pieter Engelbrecht received an almost R20 million remuneration bump in 2024, pushing his pay to R83 million.
It is no secret that salaries in the retail sector are less attractive than those in other sectors. Shareholder activism group Just Share has recently criticised South Africa’s largest retailer, Shoprite, for its internal minimum wage.
A report titled “JSE Top 40 Vertical Wage Gap Disclosure Practices” has brought to light that Shoprite paid some of the lowest wages among publicly listed companies.
The report by Just Share looks into remuneration disclosures by Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) listed companies. This includes the ratio between the remuneration of the highest- and lowest-paid employees.
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Shoprite’s minimum wage
The Companies Amendment Act, signed into law in July 2024, requires public and state-owned companies to disclose the earnings of their top and lowest employees.
The report examined the top 40 companies on the JSE and assessed whether they disclosed their vertical pay gap and internal minimum wage. Out of all of these, only 15 companies disclosed their internal minimum wage, with Shoprite’s being the lowest.
According to the report, Shoprite’s internal minimum wage is R71 674 a year, approximately R5 972 a month before deductions. This is just above the 2024 national minimum wage threshold of R5 378 per month.
While the retailer’s CEO Pieter Engelbrecht received an almost R20 million remuneration bump in 2024, pushing his pay to R83 million, with a twist of a two-year deferred incentive based on Shoprite’s achievement of performance targets.
Shoprite’s salaries
Shoprite told The Citizen it remains committed to transparent reporting; however, it cannot provide any further comment on its minimum wage.
“The Shoprite Group remains committed to transparent reporting. All publicly available information can be found in our latest Integrated and Sustainability Reports.
“As we are currently in a closed period, we are unable to provide further comment beyond what is publicly available.”
The 2024 Integrated and Sustainability report said, “We remain committed to investing in the minimum wage for Shoprite entry-level salaries, paying on average 11.1% above the national regulated minimum wage of R27.58 for General assistants.”
The report also revealed that the group spent at least R19.2 billion on employees’ wages and benefits in 2024. It is unknown how many employees cost the retailer that amount.
Living wage vs minimum wage
A living wage is the level of pay that enables workers and their families to maintain a decent standard of living, including the ability to afford essential needs such as food, housing, healthcare, education, transport and clothing.
While a minimum wage, currently set at R5,614 per month or just under R67,368 per year, is the lowest rate an employer can legally pay.
“Employers may choose to pay a living wage; there is no legal requirement to do so, whereas compliance with the minimum wage is legally binding,” said Just Share.
Shoprite’s internal minimum pay is significantly lower than the minimum “living wage” recommended by the Living Wage South Africa Network of R12 000 to R15 000 per month for a 40-hour working week in 2022.
“The amount earned by low-income workers in South Africa, even if above national minimum wage levels, often enables survival but entraps people in poverty. In this way, employers who pay below living wage levels contribute towards poverty enslavement,” highlights The Living Wage Network’s 2022 “Position Paper 1.
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Minimum wage earners
The Network argues that minimum wage earners are often unable to meet both their regular monthly expenses and the additional costs associated with unforeseen events such as funerals or illness.
This financial strain creates chronic stress, which can prevent individuals from working to their full potential, while also contributing to higher rates of absenteeism and staff turnover.
These factors, in turn, reduce business performance and indirectly hinder broader economic growth.
“The Network further highlights that the amount earned by many low-income workers in South Africa, even when it exceeds the national minimum wage, often allows only for basic survival and keeps people trapped in poverty,” said Just Share.
How does other pay?
The report by Just Share emphasised that South Africa has extremely high executive pay.
“Woolworths Holdings, another leading retailer, discloses an internal minimum wage of R99,450 per annum (R8,287.50 per month), 39% higher than that of Shoprite,” said Just Share.
Woolworths’ annual results for the year ended June 2024 showed that the total remuneration for its CEO, Roy Bagattini, in 2024 was R65.29 million.
Spar is not included in the report by Just Share; however, Mpudi Maubane, at The SPAR Group, told The Citizen that it is working towards and has taken concrete steps to implement a living wage of approximately R15 000 in its Distribution Centres.
While its CEO, Angelo Swartz, got paid R16 million in remuneration for 2024, with a basic salary of R9.5 million.
“In 2024, Just Share analysed the disclosures of the ten biggest publicly-listed companies in the wholesale and retail sector, and found that the average CEO in this sector earns 597 times what the lowest-paid worker earns.
“In other words, the average entry-level employee in the wholesale and retail sector would need to work for 21 months to earn what an average CEO in this sector earns in one day.”
Retail CEO’s salaries
“By contrast, the internal minimum wages reported by major retailers fall significantly short of any living wage benchmark for South Africa, underscoring the persistent undervaluation of low-wage work in the retail sector,” said Just Share.
According to Boxer’s financial results for the 53 weeks ended March 2025, its CEO, Marek Masojada, received a basic salary of R5.6 million. His total remuneration was R18.5 million.
The financial results outlined that Boxer has a total of 31 906 employees. The retailer spends nearly R3.1 billion paying these employees, representing a 19.1% increase from the R2.5 billion spent in the previous financial year.
According to Pick ‘n Pay’s financial results for the 53 weeks ended 2 March 2025, the man responsible for restoring the retailer’s glory, Sean Summers, received a basic salary of R24.9 million. He didn’t receive any benefits, apart from a whopping R40.1 million in long-term awards.
Pick’n Pay said that employee costs increased by 1.1% to R6.4 billion during the period, up from R6.3 billion in the previous financial year.