Committee Secretaries
Standing Committee on Finance (SCOF)
Dear Ms Sepanya, Mr Wicomb
Submission to SCOF by Actuaries Lekgotla
Actuaries Lekgotla (AL) was formed in 2016 and is made up of actuarial professionals working in South
Africa. The vision of AL is to empower, celebrate and encourage black actuaries in South Africa.
Actuaries predominately are employed in the financial sector. AL is frustrated by the lack of
transformation (or deracialisation) experienced by its members in the financial sector. In particular, the
main reasons for this lack of transformation are lack of equal pay between different races and gender,
and the lack of mentorship and development of black and female actuarial talent.
Equal pay
The perception that black and female actuarial professionals get paid less than their white counterparts
has been confirmed by 21st Century Salary Survey conducted in 2013. Many senior actuaries/managers
know the results of this survey. However, there has been limited action to correct this. AL has formally
engaged with the President of the Actuarial Society of South Africa (ASSA) on finding a lasting solution to
this issue. So far, we have not received positive feedback in our engagements. We hope that by
discussing equal pay at the SCOF, a solution can found to this important issue.
Mentorship of black actuarial talent
Many members of AL come from disadvantaged backgrounds. Therefore, they usually do not have
mentors in the social networks (e.g. through a friend of a father or similar). As a result, after completing
their degrees, black actuarial professionals are unprepared for life in the financial sector. In addition, they
face an environment where most of the senior managers are white. What usually manifests is that the
white senior managers will usually get along with white junior staff to the exclusion of black professionals.
The result is that white senior managers will have effectively mentor white junior staff. In addition, white
staff have the advantage of knowing many of the white senior managers even before they start working.
The logical solution to resolve this issue would be to have targeted mentorship programmes for black and
female professionals to ensure that black and female professionals are on an equal footing as their white
predominately male counterparts. Once on an equal footing, all races can compete fairly for opportunities
in the financial sector. Unfortunately, mentorship for black and female professionals in companies are
very rare. The result is that black actuarial professionals are always on the back foot, and are thus not
given leadership or managerial opportunities. AL believes that mentorship of black talent is a requirement
of the financial sector charter and needs to be implemented to achieve effective transformation.
The 2013 review of progress of the financial sector charter by the Financial Sector Charter Council
revealed that only 5% (70 of 1423) companies responded to the survey. This is disappointing and AL
believes that companies that participate in the review should be specially named so that non-participants
can be easily identified, and encouraged to participate in transformation to the benefit of society of South
Africa. In addition, AL believes that the financial sector charter should be more widely promoted and
companies that do not comply with its provisions should be punished financially.
AL is of the view that SCOF can contribute to enabling small financial services companies managed by
black people to compete more effectively in the financial sector. Research has shown that the Small to
Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are a great contributor to job creation and economic growth. AL believes
SMEs will also contribute to transformation in the financial sector as it will result in black professionals
being involved in strategic positions, and provide role models from the youth in their community which will
give them confidence to participate in the financial sector in future.
AL fully supports and appreciates the work performed by SCOF. We would like to be involved in decisions
made by SCOF as we believe we can contribute positively to meeting the objectives of the financial
services charter.