Africa’s largest cellphone company, MTN, paid six executives R320 million in 2025, a 62% year-on-year gain across its top posts after it reversed its loss-making position in the year to December.
In its recently released annual report, MTN says this increase – which includes benefits as well as short- and long-term incentives – is mostly because long-term incentives vested simultaneously with its shares gaining from R124.60 to R202.20 year-on-year.
Over the past five years, MTN’s share price has leapt 127.21% to trade at R208.17 as of yesterday’s close, outpacing the JSE’s All Share Index, which is up 70.11% over the same period.
The top earner
The highest paid executive was group CEO and president Ralph Mupita. Previously MTN’s CFO between April 2017 and August 2020, he pulled in almost R100 million in 2025 for his role in helping the company achieve profitability.
Mupita’s base salary was almost R20 million − R10.5 million in South Africa and $564 843 (R9.5 million at this morning’s exchange rate of R16.91) in Dubai, as he holds a split contract. This compares with a base salary of R19.1 million in 2024, an increase in line with inflation.
MTN’s CEO benefited from short-term incentives worth R29.5 million at the same time as long-term incentives worth R48 million vested. By comparison, his counterpart at Vodacom, Shameel Joosub, earned R71.1 million last year, a 15.2% increase against 2024.
The rest of the pack
Tsholofelo Molefe, MTN’s CFO, took home a total of R52 million, with short-term incentives of R17 million and the vesting of long-term incentives worth R22 million. She earned a base salary of R12.3 million in 2025, up from R11.8 million in 2024, also adjusted for inflation.
Charles Molapisi, who moved into the group chief technology and information officer role as of last November, having previously been CEO of MTN SA, earned R41.8 million last year, compared with R26 million in 2024.
Having only been in his post for two months, MTN SA’s CEO Ferdi Moolman earned R18 million, with MTN noting that his and Molapisi’s “earnings and STI amounts reflect only the periods during which they served as prescribed officers in FY 2025 and do not represent a full financial year”.
Moolman’s long-term incentive benefit reflects his three-year performance achievement, MTN says.
Ebenezer Asante, senior VP of the operator’s Southern and East Africa and Ghana markets, overseeing profit and loss responsibilities across all MTN operating regions, earned R52 million – a 37.6% gain against 2024.
MTN Nigeria CEO Karl Toriola earned R57 million, a 60% year-on-year increase with his long-term incentives vesting in both Nigerian and Ghanaian stock. Nigeria is MTN’s largest market and led MTN’s return to profitability last year after making a sharp recovery from currency-driven losses in 2024.
Earlier this month, MTN awarded R160 million in more than 800 000 shares to 14 executives, including directors, as part of its performance share plan.
Back in the black
For the year to December, MTN reported profit after tax of R27 billion versus a loss of R10.9 billion in 2024. The group also declared a 500 cents per share dividend – a 45% increase and ahead of the board’s minimum guidance of 370 cents and up from 345 cents in 2024.
Across 16 markets, the cellular company served more than 307 million voice, 172 million data and 70 million Mobile Money customers by the end of last year.
[[IMAGE]] MTN pay
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However, MTN shareholders have raised concerns about its remuneration governance and disclosure practices as only 59.2% of votes were cast in favour of executive remuneration at last year’s AGM, the lowest level of support among companies in Georgeson’s annual AGM review for 2025.
MTN was the only telecoms or IT company in the JSE’s Top 40 to feature in the review. The cellular company holds its next AGM on 30 May.
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