- Recent developments (as of 31 October 2025)
- Global markets and public equity ownership 2.2. Public equity ownership by investor category 2.3. Ownership concentration by market
- Corporate governance and institutional framework
- The rights of shareholders and key ownership functions
- The board of directors
- Corporate sustainability
OECD Corporate Governance Factbook 2025: South Africa
Table of contents
This Country Note consolidates information published in the 2025 edition of the OECD Corporate Governance Factbook. Along with the summary of recent developments, it provides an overview of South Africa’s corporate governance framework and related information benchmarked against 51 other jurisdictions covered by the Factbook, including all OECD and G20 members.
The information in this document is as of 31 December 2024 unless otherwise specified.
For further details, please refer to the OECD Corporate Governance Factbook 2025.
Review of the King Code of Corporate Governance:
In 2025, the King Committee undertook a comprehensive review and update of the King IV Code of Corporate Governance. The King V Code of Corporate Governance (King V) was launched on 31 October 2025, consisting of modernised and relevant governance outcomes, principles, recommended practices and the new King V disclosure framework aimed at helping organisations clarify and facilitate their governance disclosures.
In terms of the expectations from organisations, implementing the recommended practices should support achieving the 13 governance principles, which should result in realising the following governance outcomes: ethical culture, performance and value creation, conformance and prudent control, and legitimacy.
Of interest is that King V has expanded the scope of its principles to include oversight over data and includes explicit recommendations with respect to AI.
Although the King Code is voluntary in nature (i.e. not law and therefore not legally binding), its application is widely expected and encouraged. In some instances, it becomes effectively mandatory through regulatory or listing requirements. For example, the JSE Limited listing requirements mandate compliance with certain provisions of the King Code.
Significant legislative and regulatory reforms:
Amendments to the Companies Act, 2008, were signed into law in 2024, but requirements related to the disclosure of certain remuneration metrics1 for public and state-owned companies have not come into force yet. These requirements include disclosure of the following elements:
total remuneration of the highest-paid employee;
total remuneration of the lowest-paid employee;
average total remuneration of all employees; and
median total remuneration of all employees; and
ratio between the top 5% highest-paid employees and the bottom 5% lowest-paid employees.
|
No. of listed companies in Dec 2024 |
Change since Dec 2021 |
Market capitalisation in Dec 2024 |
Ratio to GDP |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
South Africa |
189 |
|
-14.9% |
USD 334 bn |
83.5% |
|
OECD members |
21 618 |
|
4.3% |
USD 92 518 bn |
136.5% |
|
World |
46 086 |
|
11.3% |
USD 124 536 bn |
112.7% |
Note: “World” covers 98 jurisdictions. “OECD members” covers 38 countries.
Source: OECD Capital Market Series Dataset. IMF.
Source: OECD Capital Market Series Dataset.
Source: OECD Capital Market Series Dataset.
* King V Code of Corporate Governance was launched on 31 October 2025. For companies, disclosure is required through King V Disclosure framework.
The categories that the jurisdiction fits into are highlighted in blue.
The bold numbers and words indicate country-specific additional information.
The numbers within parentheses indicate the number of jurisdictions applicable to each category.
For further information on the methodologies used for the categorisations, please see the OECD Corporate Governance Factbook 2025.
* Some jurisdictions belong to multiple categories because of the additional requirements other than a percentage of shareholding.
* Jurisdictions where mandatory takeover bid rules exist are included.
** Some jurisdictions belong to multiple categories.
* Some jurisdictions belong to multiple categories.
* Some jurisdictions belong to multiple categories.
* Some jurisdictions belong to multiple categories.
This work is published under the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD. The opinions expressed and arguments employed herein do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Member countries of the OECD.
This document, as well as any data and map included herein, are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area.
The full book is available in English: OECD (2025), OECD Corporate Governance Factbook 2025, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/f4f43735-en.
© OECD 2025
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← 1. Remuneration is defined as encompassing all salary and benefits, as well as short-term or long-term incentives.
← 2. Note: “World” covers 98 jurisdictions.
← 3. Note: The share of companies in each jurisdiction where the single largest shareholder and the three largest shareholders own more than 50% of the company’s equity capital. “World” covers 98 jurisdictions.