South African chief executives are apparently worth their weight in gold. With gold trading at R138 000 a kilogram at the time of going to press, and the average chief executive probably weighing in at 90 kilograms give or take a business lunch or two, paying a chief executive in gold would cost R12.4 million. Which is not far off the average pay of the chief executives investigated in this title. The authors have taken 50 of the largest and most influential companies listed on the JSE and measured the companies and their chief executives against a number of criteria. They have also looked closely at some of the circumstances that have allowed executive remuneration to go largely unchecked. Executive pay in South Africa attempts to provide an insight and makes some suggestions as to how various stakeholders could better deal with executive pay. If executives want to reverse the growing sense of public cynicism and concern around the multi-million rand packages they take home each year, they will need to explain the link between their pay and their performance.