The planned copyright reform is intended to implement a right to equitable remuneration for authors in the South African Copyright Act. This dissertation examines the claim from a legal policy perspective. After an introduction to the basics of the South African mixed-legal system, the foundations of contract and copyright law are examined. This is followed by an analysis of the current remuneration practice with collecting societies and international legislation. Against this background, the work ends with theses on the effectiveness of the newly introduced right to equitable remuneration.