Education

South Africa’s Highest Paid Public University Vice Chancellors

October 18, 2019 : By Mpho Chawane

The salaries of the top university executives in the country are under scrutiny from the legislature.

Parliament’s portfolio committee on Higher Education, Science and Technology is calling for an investigation into how much top Vice Chancellors of public universities are earning.

They say their high income is not proportional to the performance of the institutions they head.

“The committee will request the minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology to commission an inquiry into the remuneration of universities’ vice-chancellors and other senior executive managers and to report to parliament,” said committee chairperson Philly Mapulane after a meeting on Thursday, October 17.

“Universities are public institutions which must be accountable to the people of South Africa, through their elected representatives, about the prudent management of their finances.

“This question of remuneration of senior executive managers, if left unattended, may become a runaway train and therefore we are calling for action to be taken to regulate it,” he said.

From available 2017 and 2018 data, this is what some of the Vice Chancellors from leading universities are taking home annually.

Vice Chancellor
 University Salary
Professor Tshilidzi Marwala University of Johannesburg R4 907 529
Professor Wim de Villiers Stellenbosch University R4 840 000
Professor Adam Habib University of Witwatersrand R4 484 000
Dr A S van Jaarsveld University of KwaZulu Natal R3 792 000
Professor Mandla Makhanya University of South Africa (Unisa) R3 788 000
Dr Max Price
Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng		 University of Cape Town
University of Cape Town		 R3 672 852
R3 224 224
Professor Dan Kgwadi North-West University R3 532 000
Dr Sizwe Mabizela Rhodes University R2 991 000

* University of Cape Town had 2 Vice Chancellors in 2018, each working 6 months.

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