Diversity

HDSA directors

197 (32.4%) of the 608 executive and non-executive directors across the JSE top 50 are HDSA (Historically Disadvantages South Africans), a decrease from 36% in 2023. All directors disclosed their ethnic backgrounds.

Eight companies (16%) reported having no HDSA directors on their boards, one more than in 2023. A decade ago, 7% of companies recorded having no HDSA directors on their board.

Financial services is the most common background (36%) among HDSA directors, as was the case in 2023. The majority of directors with experience in the financial services industry are from the banking and investment sectors. This year, new HSDA directors with healthcare and industrial sector experience were more common than those with financial services experience.

• The most common functional backgrounds among HDSA directors are executive directors (44%), followed by finance executives (20%) and “other” directors (10%). Other functional backgrounds of HDSA directors included general managers (8.7%), human resources (4%), consulting (3.5%), academics (3%), non-executive directors (2%), government officials (1%), legal professionals (1%), Marketing Executives (0.5%) and Chief Operating Officers (0.5%).
• HSDA NEDs are on average slightly younger compared with the average for all NEDs (57.8 versus 59.8 years old); and of the 28 HDSA NEDs, 25% (7) are sitting on a board for the first time.
• HDSA directors have a lower average tenure on the board (5.9 years versus the 6.4 average for all directors).

Gender diversity

37% of all board directors (223/608) across the JSE Top 50 companies are women. This is up from 35% (213) in 2023.

Among all the NEDs, 40% (201) are women, reflecting a slight increase from 39% (191) in 2023.

There are 22 female executive directors in the JSE Top 50 companies and this number includes CEOs (five out of 45 CEOs in total) and CFOs (10 out of 39 CFOs in total) and other executive directors (seven out of 17 in total). Thus, 22% of all executive directors are female.

Women NEDs (excluding chairs) are on average 57.9 years old, a slight decrease from 58.2 years in 2023.

43% (23) of newly appointed NEDs are women, down from 48% (61) in 2023. Of these, 22% (5) have no prior board experience. This is in line with a global downward trend in the appointment of women among new directors. However, Ireland leads the way with 65% of new directors being women, but there has been a drop in the proportion of women new directors in the UK (49%) and the US (42%).

Women have a lower average tenure than men (4.6 years versus 7.9) and a lower average tenure in their board roles (4.1 years versus 5.6 years).

60% (30) of boards have at least one woman who is either the chair, chief executive officer, chief financial officer or another executive director. This is up from 44% (22) in 2023.

There has been a slight increase in the proportion of senior leadership roles held by women (19% in 2024). At least one woman holds a senior leadership role in 50% of the companies in our sample (up from 45% in 2023).

GENDER REPRESENTATION: BOARD ROLES

	All board members	Male board members	Women board members
Number of people	608	385	223
Average age (years)	60	61	57.5
Average tenure on board for all (years)	6.4	7.5	4.6
average # of external commitments	2.2	2.1	2.4
% of new directors appointed to the board this year(from total)	8.7	56.6	43.4
% of newly appointed first time directors	3.8	52.2	47.8

Furthermore, 51% of audit committee chairs, 39% of remuneration committee chairs and 25% of nomination committee chairs are women.

Intersectionality (HDSA and gender diversity)

There is almost parity between HDSA women (52%) and men (47%) on JSE Top 50 boards. In 2023, the difference was 55% women and 45% men.

HDSA women directors are on average younger than their male counterparts (55.4 years vs 60.3 years) and have shorter tenures (4.9 years vs 6.9 years).

Amongst the 53 new directors, 28 were HDSA (52.8%), just over half of the new directors appointed. Amongst these 28 HDSA directors, 25% (7) are sitting on a JSE-listed company board for the first time, and of these new HDSA directors, 4 are female and 3 are male.

 

GENDER AND ETHNICITY IN THE BOARDROOM

	All HDSA board members (230)	HDSA female board members	HDSA male board members	All board members (608)
Average age (years)	57.8	55.4	60.3	59.9
Average tenure on board (years)	5.9	4.9	6.9	6.4
Percentage with external commitments exceeding 1 listed board	25.6%	14.3%	11.3%	60.7%
Percentage of new directors (from total of 608)	4.6%	2.3%	2.3%	8.9%
Percentage of newly appointed first-time directors (from total of 608)	1.3%	2.2%	1.3%	3.9%

Non-national directors

We define non-national directors as having a nationality that differs from that of the company.

Non-national directors account for 35% (213) of all board members, a decrease from 36% (218) in 2023. Fewer non-national directors (21) were appointed in 2024 compared to (53) in 2023.

334 of chairs (17) and 37% of CEOs (18) are non-national, and thus over three-quarters of directors are South African nationals. It is important to note that one company in the sample does not appoint the CEO to this board.