“Your total package is R17.6-million. Striking workers wanting R12 500 a month would say that’s obscene. Can you justify it?” Radio 702 talk-show host John Robbie asked of Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) CEO Chris Griffith last week. Griffith conceded that, in a public debate around executive salaries, “I’m never going to win any argument”, even though slashing executive pay would not be the solution because, Griffith said, even if the executives worked for no pay at all, Amplats would still not be able to meet the R12 500 minimum entry-level pay demanded by the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU). He added that most platinum executives had not received long-term incentive pay for the last six years because of the poor state of the industry. Amplats’ debt level, which was R10.5-billion at the beginning of 2013, went to R11.5-billion at the beginning of this year and is R13-billion now. If it were to accede to AMCU’s demand, it would push that up by another R4.5-billion of just year-on-year debt, which would push the company over the edge, Griffith told Robbie.