MUNICIPAL managers are set to earn significantly more than their political bosses across all spheres of government despite both officials and public office bearers receiving salary increases.
This, after President Cyril Ramaphosa approved salary increases of 2.5% for his deputy, Paul Mashatile, Cabinet ministers and their deputies, premiers, MECs, MPs and members of the nine provincial legislatures.
Mashatile will earn about R3.2 million, while ministers and their deputies will take home nearly R2.7m and just over R2.2m, respectively, and the salaries will be backdated to April 1.
The incoming National Assembly Speaker and National Council of Provinces (NCOP) chairperson have the same salaries as Mashatile, while the deputy Speaker of the National Assembly and NCOP deputy chairperson are paid the same as deputy ministers.
Premiers are paid R2.5m a year, while MECs and provincial legislature Speakers take home salaries similar to deputy ministers.
The lowest paid public office bearers will be MPs and members of the provincial legislatures, with annual salaries of just less than R1.3m and R1.23m, respectively.
Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Thembi Nkadimeng has also increased the salaries of municipal managers and managers reporting directly to them ahead of wage negotiations for ordinary local government workers.
Nkadimeng awarded the senior managers a 3.3% cost of living adjustment of the upper limits of their total remuneration packages payable for the 2023/24 municipal financial year, which ends on June 30.
In addition, senior managers earning below R1.9m a year will also get a non-pensionable cash gratuity of R1 695 a month, while those getting paid more than R1.9m annually will receive R1 818 monthly.
The non-pensionable cash gratuity will be backdated from July 1, 2023, and will be payable until the end of this month.
The highest paid municipal manager will take home about R4.25m a year while the lowest paid will be get just under R1.1m yearly.
Managers directly accountable to municipal managers will be paid salaries of between R880 228 and R3.4m a year.
According to Nkadimeng, her announcement provides a strategic framework for remuneration of senior managers across all municipalities and there is a need to prioritise service delivery to communities and to sustain viable local government and the fiscal capacity of different categories of municipalities.
She said she took into consideration the core reward principles aimed at ensuring an appropriate remuneration mix. She also sought to ensure that the remuneration of senior managers was cost-effective, consistent, internally equitable, externally competitive and aligned to the achievement of the objectives of municipalities while providing a uniform remuneration framework for local government.
”The upper limits constitute an integral part of the human resource value chain in building resilient administrative institutions underpinned by the intent to enable municipalities to attract, appoint and retain suitably qualified and competent senior managers necessary for effective performance of their functions. In order to strengthen the capacity of municipalities,” reads the notice issued last week.
Nkadimeng said it also reinforced the statutory obligation binding on municipalities to appoint senior managers who meet the minimum prescribed skills, expertise, competencies, higher education qualifications, work experience and relevant knowledge as prescribed in the local government: regulations on appointment and conditions of employment for senior managers.
Senior managers employed in one of the several rural municipalities may be paid a remote allowance not exceeding between 4% and 10% of their total annual remuneration package applicable to them.
Saftu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi described the increase allocated to public office bearers as equivalent to financing extravagance.
”Though a 2.5% increase is a small percentage increase compared to the 4.7% given to the hardworking, under-staffed public servants, its value is high considering the obscene salaries they get. Given their obscene salaries, this salary hike means nothing but funding of splendour and luxurious lives public office bearers are leading,” he said.
Vavi added that the salary increases were tantamount to rewarding people for bungling the state through their incompetence, mismanagement, maladministration and corruption in government departments and municipalities as well as rewarding people for collapsing public institutions, running down public services to the ground and denying people basic services.