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THE CITIZEN
Page
3
Date
Mon 11 Mar 2019
AVE (ZAR)
16354.96
CEO pay 'bleeds' SANBSACCUSATIONS: WORKERS' LAST BONUSES WERE HALVED, SAYS UNION
»» Annual packageof R3.8m more thandouble highest tier ofCEO pay in the sector.
Gcina Ntsaluba
he salaries of executivedirectors of nonprofitorganisations_ (NPOs)are under the spotlightin the wake of revela-
tions that the South African Na-tional Blood Service (SANBS) ispaying its executives massive sal-aries, while workers only receivedhalf the normal bonus last year.
SANBS is a nonprofit organisa-tion that relies on blood donors toenable it to provide patients withblood products and medical ser-vices related to transfusions.
According to payroll docu-ments in the possession of TheCitizen, the SANBS paid CEODr Jonathan Louw R286 000 inJanuary last year after his ap-pointment and in May, his salaryjumped to R322 000 per month.
The SANBS claimed this wasnot due to a salary increase, as theJanuary payment was pro-rata ashe only started working midwaythrough the month. This, howev-er, did not explain why his salarywas not increased in February.
"The CEO's salary when hecommenced employment waspro-rata because hejoined SANBSmid-month. The February salaryand succeeding months is there-fore double the month of January
when he only worked 15 days,"said Abbey Mothokoa, the chiefhuman capital officer at SANBS.
Mothokoa said the figures inour possession were incorrect,but would not provide proof.
In 2017, the SANBS paid its for-mer CEO Trevor Vroom a R4.8million annual salary, while theother four directors pocketed Rgmillion.
According to the King Code Re-port on Corporate Governance,NPOs should remunerate direc-tors and executives fairly andresponsibly in line with bench-marks for the nonprofitsector.- The reportsaid they should alsodisclose the remu-neration of each di-rector and certainsenior executives.
Based on the2018 NPO SalarySurvey Repor t, con-ducted by Averile RyderGlobal Reward Specialists,the average income of a medicaldoctor working for an NPO wasR1.9 million per annum for sen-ior executives, chief operatingofficers and senior managers whoare on the upper end of the scale.The lower-middle sealemanagersearn R1.2million per annum.
This means Louw's annualsalary package of R3.86 millionwas more than double that of thehighest tier of CEO salaries in thesector.
"Organisations need to find abalance between paying too littleand risking losing valuable em-ployees, and paying too much andunwisely spending the organisa-
Our memberswere
victimisedfor raisinggraft issues
tion's resources," said Ryder, thefounding member of Averile Ry-der Global Reward Specialists.
It is a globally recognised com-pany that has conducted numer-ous surveys and also consultedfor many profit, public and non-profit sector organisations in re-muneration and human resoure-es across Africa for over 40 years.
SANBS board chairpersonGetty Simelane said the board ap-pointed and approved all mattersrelating to the CEO remunerationpackage.
"All employee informationrelating to remuneration,
including the CEO'spayroll documents,are of a confidentialnature," she said.
The_ NationalHealth Educationand Allied Work-ers Union- (Ne-hawu) said workers at SANBS wereconcerned that if
what they claimed to be wastefulexpenditure was not curbed itwould lead to the collapse of theorganisation and a jobs' blood-bath.
"Our members have been sub-jected to continuous vietimisa-tion and intimidation by the CEOfor raising issues related to mal-administr ation and corruption, "said Khaya Xaba, Nehawu nation-al spokesperson.
"The same board endorsed theappointment of the former CEO,Vroom, who didn't have the req-uisite qualifications. This is con-tained in the Werkmans Attor-neys report, which the board has
refused to release to the unionsince 2016," he said.
The Citizen's request for accessto the report was rejected.
Nehawu alsoclaimed four shopstewards at SANBS were sus-pended for blowing the whistle oncorruption.
Louw denied this. He said theywere suspended for organisingan unauthorised gathering at theworkplace and being aggressive,disruptive and disrespectful atthe meeting and spreading falsestatements in the workplace andon social media.- [email protected]
finfo
» The South African RevenueService (Sars) said nonprofitorganisations that are regis-tered as Public Benefit Organ-isations (PBO) get preferentialtax treatment.» Preferential tax treatmentis designed to assist nonprofitorganisations by increasingtheir financial resources.» "The Tax AdministrationAct of 2011only says the publicbenefit organisations' (PBO)salaries must be reasonable,ie. market related. Thus, eachemployer decides what theypay and each employee ac-counts for their tax with Sars.In the absence of a thresholdfor salaries there is nothingto hold these organisationsaccountable to," according toSars spokesperson SandileMemela.
