Minister Meth welcomes the signing into law of Companies Amendment Act

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Employment and Labour minister Nomakhosazana Meth has welcomed the signing into law of the Companies Amendment Act by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

On Friday, the president assented laws that promote the ease of doing business and impose greater corporate transparency on the earnings gap between the highest and lowest paid persons in a company.

In a statement issued, the presidency said the Companies Amendment Bill and Companies Second Amendment Bill referred to the President for assent jointly constitute initiatives by government to make the conduct of business less burdensome, to tighten the pursuit of delinquent directors or prescribed officers for wrongdoing, including state capture and address disparities in earnings.

“The Act is also aimed at achieving equity between directors and senior management on the one hand, and shareholders and workers on the other hand.

In addition, the law addresses public concerns regarding high levels of inequalities in society by introducing better disclosure of senior executive remuneration and the reasonableness of the remuneration.

According to Minister Meth, this law has a direct linkage to the Employment Equity Amendment Act, 2022, particularly section 27 that refers to the statement of income differentials required from designated employers.

The requirement of disclosure by companies of the average and median total remuneration of all employees, and the remuneration gap between the total remuneration of the top 5% highest paid employees, and the total remuneration of the bottom 5% lowest paid employees of the company will go a long way in exposing existing inequalities in employment.

As a result, the work done by the Department of Employment and Labour to transform the labour market will be strengthened as the two pieces of law are complementing each other and will ensure more transparency from the employers.

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Through our Departmental inspectorate, we will promote, strengthen and enforce compliance of our labour laws, as we strive for a labour market that is conducive to economic growth, said Meth.