Abstract
Recent literature has explored the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on dividend policies globally, however this has not been explored from a South African perspective. In this study the dividend policies for the top 40 companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange have been analysed through a panel regression analysis to determine whether the COVID-19 pandemic have significant influence on these policies. The observations proved that the COVID-19 pandemic impacted South African companies’ dividend policies negatively. Other significant controlled variables such as profitability proved to have a significant positive impact on South African companies’ dividend policies as well as the prior year’s dividend. This observation emphasized South African policymakers’ conservatism on dividend policies during the pandemic as reserves were reinvested rather than distributed to shareholders.