MTN Group CEO takes over US$800k pay cut

MTN Group President and CEO Ralph Mupita earned almost R15-million ($817,560) less last year than he did in 2021, but still walked away with R69.3-million ($3.77 million+) in remuneration – excluding new long-term share awards that will vest later.

The company revealed in its integrated annual report, published this week, that Mupita’s “earned” remuneration – which includes salaries, pension, short-term inventive bonuses and vested long-term share awards – totalled just shy of R70-million, down from the R84.1-million ($4.58 million+) he received in the 2021 financial year.

The reason for the decline in Mupita’s total remuneration is a decrease in the value of short-term incentives and long-term incentive (LTI) shares that vested during the year, driven lower by the decline in the value of MTN shares compared to 2021.

LTI shares that vested in the 2022 financial year fell from R37.7-million in 2021 to R29.1-million in 2022. The value of short-term incentives declined from R15.4-million to R10.8-million.

Mupita earned two salaries, one in US dollars and the other in rands. This, MTN explained, is due to his having a dual contract that is split between MTN Dubai and MTN Group Management Services South Africa.

Including salaries, pension, qualifying dividends, short-term incentives and vested shares, he received US$1.13-million under the Dubai contract and a further R49.7-million under his South African contract, for the total figure of R69.3-million. Mupita’s basic salaries were $468,000 (2021: $458,000) and R8.7-million (2021: R8.4-million), respectively.

MTN also revealed that Mupita holds MTN shares worth R96.2-million. The shares he holds exceed a minimum requirement imposed by MTN on executive directors and prescribed officers.

• Senior Vice President, Markets: Ghana’s Ebenezer Twum Asante earned a total of R37.45 million ($2 million+), which is 3% less than what he earned in 2021 – R38.51 million.
• Chief financial officer Tsholofelo Molefe was paid total earned remuneration of R19.8-million.
• Chief operating officer Jens Schulte-Bockum was paid a total of R56.5-million, which included R28.2-million in shares that vested in 2022 under the LTI scheme.
• South Africa CEO Charles Molapisi was paid a total of R26.8-million of which R17.5-million was equally split between short-term incentives and vested shares under the LTI scheme. Molapisi’s base salary rose from R6.2-million to R7.9-million.
• Nigeria CEO Karl Toriola received a total of R43.3-million, which included R15.7-million in LTI scheme shares vesting.
• Group chairman Mcebisi Jonas received total pay of R4.8-million for his services, which included a retainer of R3.2-million.