At the SA Civil Aviation Authority, the CEO earned an average of R9.7 million in 2024/25, while the 102 workers in the lowest salary band averaged R104,000 a year. That is a 93-to-1 pay ratio inside a single public-sector employer, according to a GroundUp analysis of 35 state-owned enterprises. If you work at one of these entities, or you are weighing up an offer from one, that number belongs in your thinking before you sign anything.

For semi-skilled workers earning between R42,000 and R143,000 a year, the gap is not a statistic to scroll past. It shapes what your union can realistically bargain for, how much room a recruiter actually has, and whether your take-home pay will keep pace with rising living costs. The data is public, the rights exist, and using both is legitimate. Here is how.

The two-tier structure inside SOEs

SOEs report pay in six bands: unskilled, semi-skilled, skilled, professionally qualified, senior management, and top management. Most workers cluster in the bottom three. Most of the money flows to the top two. Across the 35 entities analysed by GroundUp, top managers earned on average about 14 times as much as the lowest-paid employees. Seven agencies posted an above-average gap.

Executive packages at several of these agencies also exceeded the South African president's R4 million salary. That figure used to function as an informal ceiling for state-linked chief executives. For many SOEs, it now looks closer to a starting point.

The Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998, specifically Section 27, requires designated employers (which includes SOEs) to report on income differentials. That reporting obligation creates a documented paper trail. Your union representative, or you personally if you are outside union coverage, can request or access these figures through the entity's annual report and use them as a reference point in any pay conversation.

Why Treasury caps don't reach these paycheques

Civil servants fall inside Treasury salary guidelines. Many SOE executives do not, and the reason is structural. When an SOE funds itself through levies, licence fees, tolls, or market-linked income rather than direct Treasury allocations, it can argue that executive pay should be negotiated at market rates. Treasury's cap loses its grip as soon as an entity steps off the fiscus.

The Media Development and Diversity Agency illustrates this clearly. It is funded through levies on TV and radio broadcasters, not the government purse. On a headcount of 81, the top three executives averaged R2 million each, 11 senior managers averaged R1.1 million, and the 33 lowest-paid staff averaged R42,350. Workers who deliver community media workshops earn under R4,000 a month on average, while the executives overseeing those programmes earn nearly 50 times that amount. The National Minimum Wage Act 9 of 2018 sets a floor of R27.58 per hour (as adjusted for 2024), but the gap above that floor is where most SOE workers spend their careers, with limited structural pressure to close it.

The gap, agency by agency

If you are evaluating an SOE offer, or benchmarking your current role, these are the ratios worth knowing from the GroundUp dataset:

• SA Civil Aviation Authority: CEO on R9.7 million; 102 lowest-band workers on R104,000 average. Ratio: 93 to 1.
• Road Traffic Management Corporation: CEO on R7.7 million; 1,706 employees, the majority semi-skilled earning R240,000 on average; lowest band on R143,000. CEO-to-lowest ratio: 53 to 1. The CEO also earned roughly three times what the next salary scale down received.
• Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority: CEO on R7.1 million; ten senior managers averaged R3.36 million; lowest band 27 times below the CEO.
• Media Development and Diversity Agency: top three executives on R2 million average; lowest 33 employees on R42,350 average. Ratio: roughly 47 to 1.
• Water Research Commission, SA Maritime Safety Authority, National Housing Finance Corporation: all posted lowest-to-highest ratios exceeding the SOE average of 14 to 1.

What this means when you compare an SOE offer

A public-sector role used to carry an implicit promise: lower ceiling, higher floor, more stability. In several of these SOEs, the ceiling has shifted sharply upward for a handful of executives while the floor has barely moved for the many. That changes how you should read an offer letter.

Before you accept a role at an SOE, work through these questions:

• Which band am I in? Ask HR to name the band explicitly (unskilled, semi-skilled, skilled, professionally qualified, senior management, or top management) and the rand range attached to it. Know where you sit on that ladder before you agree to anything.
• How is this SOE funded? If the entity runs on levies, tolls, or licence fees rather than Treasury allocations, executive pay is likely market-linked, while worker wages often are not. That asymmetry is worth raising in any salary negotiation.
• What does the collective agreement say? If your role is covered by union bargaining, for instance through the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (NEHAWU, affiliated with COSATU) or the Public Servants Association (PSA), ask for the current agreement and check when the next wage review cycle opens. That is your real negotiation window, not the day you sign.
• How does this compare to private-sector equivalents? For semi-skilled roles at R143,000 to R240,000, a private-sector benchmark check can show whether the SOE floor is competitive or trailing. Use a salary calculator and sector data before you commit.

Your rights and levers as an SOE worker

You have more leverage than the pay gap implies, but only if you use the right channels. These are the ones most directly relevant to SOE workers in South Africa:

• Union representation. Most SOE workers in the lower bands are covered by a recognised union under the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995. If you are not sure who bargains on your behalf, ask HR for the recognition agreement. NEHAWU and the PSA are two of the most active unions in public entities. Knowing which one covers your band is the first practical step.
• CCMA access. If you believe your pay grading is inconsistent with the collective agreement, or you have been placed in the wrong band, the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration handles disputes over unfair labour practices, including grading and remuneration, under Section 186 of the LRA 66 of 1995. Filing a referral costs nothing and can move a stalled conversation.
• Annual reports are public. SOEs publish executive pay, band-by-band headcount, and average wages in their annual reports. The figures are available to you. Reading them before your next wage negotiation is due diligence, not overreach.
• The Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998. Section 27 of the Act requires designated employers, which includes SOEs, to report on income differentials. Your union representative can use this reporting in bargaining to document and formally contest disproportionate gaps.

Recalibrating your expectations without lowering your standards

The SOE sector is not a single employer with a single culture. Some agencies pay competitive wages at the lower bands, offer real progression paths, and honour their bargaining commitments. Others post a 93-to-1 ratio and present it as an unremarkable feature of the landscape. The difference is knowable before you accept an offer, because the data is in the public record.

If you are job-hunting in the public sector, treat the annual report as part of your research, alongside any salary benchmarks you can access. If you already work at an SOE, take the executive pay figure to your next NEHAWU or PSA branch meeting, or directly to your line manager if you fall outside union coverage, and ask a straightforward question: what would moving up one band require, and over what timeframe? A specific answer is a signal the employer takes progression seriously. A vague one is also informative.

The gap is documented, the regulatory framework under the EEA and LRA gives you tools to name it formally, and the CCMA offers a route if internal channels stall. Using those tools is not confrontational; it is exactly what they are designed for.