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News24 reports that Wits University vice-chancellor Professor Zeblon Vilakazi's annual remuneration was R6.8 million in 2023, while Professor Francis Petersen, who is now the vice-chancellor of the University of Pretoria, earned R6 million while he was at the helm of the University of the Free State.
In addition, the University of Limpopo's Professor Mahlo Mokgalong also took home R6 million in 2023. Professor Thoko Mayekiso and Professor Andrew Crouch, who run the country's smallest institutions, namely the University of Mpumalanga (UMP) and Sol Plaatje University (SPU) in the Northern Cape, respectively, earned more than their peer from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Professor Nana Poku. Mayekiso and Crouch received annual remuneration of R5.3 million and R5.2 million, respectively, compared to Poku's R4.5-million annual package. "It really does not make sense for someone to get such high salaries noting the challenges of financial resources needed for higher education and the extremely high debts that most institutions are in," said Professor Labby Ramrathan from UKZN. In his view, payments to vice-chancellors should be based on criteria such as the size and complexity of a university. "The amounts paid to VCs must be reduced substantially because they also receive a lot of perks," he added. A report compiled by the Council on Higher Education (CHE), which was released last year, recommended that guidelines and policy frameworks should be developed and strengthened with an eye to cap executive remuneration. Ahmed Essop of the Ali Mazrui Centre for Higher Education Studies at the University of Johannesburg said a debate was needed about appropriate remuneration for vice-chancellors. "These are public institutions that are funded by the state. They are not-for-profit organisations. There needs to be a framework within which public institutions determine the salaries of vice-chancellors," he pointed out.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Prega Govender at News24 (subscription or trial registration required)
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