It’s not unfounded, Garach, the NEF CEO ‘does earn more than Ramaphosa’

Democratic Alliance (DA) trade and industry spokesperson Dean Macpherson stood by his comments that chief executive officer of the National Empowerment Fund (NEF), Philisiwe Mthethwa, is the highest-paid civil servant and earns more than the president.

Macpherson said yesterday, in the wake of the NEF board of trustees’ statement that his comments were unfounded and misleading, there was nothing unfounded about the NEF struggling to provide financial support to black entrepreneurs.

“What is unfounded or misleading about what I said?

“Is it not a fact that she earned a R2 million bonus while the NEF is struggling to support black-owned businesses?

“The NEF does not have the financial capital to execute its mandate yet she is earning a R6 million salary. Does he expect us to be grateful for that,” he said, referring to NEF board of trustees chairperson Rakesh Garach.

On Wednesday, Garach disputed that Mthethwa’s remuneration was excessive and that she was the highest-paid civil servant.

“The CEO of the NEF is most definitely not the highest-paid public official,” said Garach.

However, as far back as in 2014 the DA already charged that Mthethwa is indeed the highest-paid public official. Read about it here: Is NEF’s Philisiwe Mthethwa SA’s highest paid public official?

Garach said that as a public institution, the NEF was transparent and accountable about the remuneration of its executives.

“In accordance with standard industry practice, the NEF remunerates high-performing employees between the 50th and 75th percentiles in order to retain individuals who are highly sought-after in the financial services sector.

“The CEO is remunerated at 50th percentile,” said Garach.

Macpherson said Mthethwa’s massive salary was shocking, given that the NEF had little money to do its work and that it did not have much to show for its CEO’s exorbitant salary.

“The NEF was set up in 1998 to provide capital funding for black entrepreneurs and while their initial work showed some success after being funded by government, repeated budget cuts have rendered the entity without funding, except to fund their overpaid executives at a combined total of more than R17 million, who all received bonuses ranging from R580,000 to R1.2 million,” said Macpherson.

He said Mthethwa’s salary was R2 million more than President Cyril Ramaphosa was earning.

Garach has disputed that the NEF was struggling to execute its mandate, saying it had approved 1,015 transactions worth more than R10.182 billion across the country and had disbursed R6.8 billion into the economy under Mthethwa’s watch. She has been at the helm for 14 years.

He said more than R3.5 billion had been repaid by NEF investees as 79% of these businesses continued to trade, and that the NEF’s mentorship programme was instrumental in helping many entrepreneurs to succeed.

– gcinan@citizen.co.za

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