Raisibe Morathi, Who Skipped Grade 9, Now Earns R100,000 a Day at Vodacom

• Raisibe Morathi, Vodacom's Group CFO, has accumulated over R202 million in pre-tax earnings since joining the company in November 2020
• Morathi, who grew up in Polokwane and skipped Grade 9, built her career across Nedbank, HSBC and Sanlam before landing at Vodacom
• Her FY2026 earnings spiked to R68.86 million after long-term incentives paid out at 145.8% of their performance targets

Raisibe Morathi, the Group Chief Financial Officer of Vodacom, has taken home R202.28 million in pre-tax remuneration over six years. That works out to roughly R102,160 for every day she has held the role since joining the telecoms giant on 1 November 2020.

The figure comes from a breakdown of her annual earnings across six financial years, from a partial FY2021 through to FY2026. Her base salary alone accounts for R57.32 million of that total, while short-term incentives added R50.35 million and long-term incentives contributed R74.64 million. Dividends received over the same period brought in a further R7.44 million.

From Polokwane to the boardroom

According to reports, Morathi's path to one of South Africa's most senior corporate finance roles started in Limpopo. She grew up in Polokwane and completed high school in four years after skipping Grade 9.

She went on to earn a BCom from the University of Venda and qualified as a Chartered Accountant before adding an MPhil in Corporate Strategy from GIBS at the University of Pretoria. She also holds an Advanced Diploma in Taxation from Wits, a Corporate Governance Certificate from UJ, and completed INSEAD's Advanced Management Programme.

Her early career included a stint as a trainee accountant before she moved into financial sector roles at institutions such as HSBC Investment Bank, the Industrial Development Corporation, African Merchant Bank and Sanlam, where she served as CEO of Group Services. She spent more than 13 years at Nedbank across two separate periods, including 11 years as Group CFO.

FY2026 earnings spike

Morathi's single biggest year at Vodacom was FY2026, when her total pre-tax pay reached R68.86 million. That figure was driven largely by long-term incentive vestings of R40.71 million, reflecting a performance achievement score of 145.8% against targets originally set in June 2023. In FY2025, the same measure had come in at 73.1%.

During her tenure, Morathi has been central to some of Vodacom's most significant strategic moves, including the group's 55% acquisition of Vodafone Egypt in 2022. Vodacom has indicated that her remuneration is regularly benchmarked against the market to remain competitive and to support the retention of senior female executives.

Her annual earnings have grown steadily year on year, rising from R14.01 million in her partial first year to R28.47 million in FY2022, R28.36 million in FY2023, R30.11 million in FY2024 and R32.47 million in FY2025 before the FY2026 spike.

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Source: Briefly News