Two days ago I wrote a post titled metro city managers earn big bucks. In it I suggested that national government institute a ceiling for the salaries of municipal managers, as is the case with public representatives.
I am pleased to report that yesterday Deputy Cooperative Governance Minister Yunus Carrim announced that they want to curb the high salaries of municipal managers by introducing regulations determining how much they should be paid according to the size and budgets of the municipalities they run. “We are, through this law, setting ceilings for remuneration and conditions of service for municipal managers,” he said. “What we are seeking are guidelines that will say, depending on the number of residents in your municipality, the budget you have; this is the guideline we can give and we can provide a ceiling and monitor it,” he said.
The Times has reported that six of South Africa’s metros paid their municipal managers more than their political bosses, MPs, MECs and, in some cases, ministers and premiers.
City of Johannesburg manager Mavela Dlamini, with an annual salary of R2.3-million, earns more than Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe.
Carrim said the department would also use the new law to set the required qualification, experience and technical expertise for municipal professionals. This includes exploring an option that all future municipal chief financial officers be qualified and experienced chartered accountants. He said this was critical for smaller and poorly performing municipalities which need such qualified skills but cannot afford them. His department and the National Treasury are working out how to attract qualified chartered accountants to these municipalities.
Meanwhile, it has emerged that a number of poorly performing municipalities are continuing to pay their municipal managers hefty performance bonuses.The DA said 56 municipal managers were paid performance bonuses in the past financial year despite the poor state of the finances of the towns and cities they run. “In total, R249-million [including performance bonuses] was paid to municipal managers last year,” said DA local government spokesman James Lorimer, who based his assessment on National Treasury figures.
This is all good news as it seems that government is serious about curbing exorbitant salaries, making sure that only qualified people take up these positions and that they have performance agreements in place.
Carrim said the department would also use the new law to set the required qualification, experience and technical expertise for municipal professionals. This includes exploring an option that all future municipal chief financial officers be qualified and experienced chartered accountants. He said this was critical for smaller and poorly performing municipalities which need such qualified skills but cannot afford them. His department and the National Treasury are working out how to attract qualified chartered accountants to these municipalities.
Meanwhile, it has emerged that a number of poorly performing municipalities are continuing to pay their municipal managers hefty performance bonuses.The DA said 56 municipal managers were paid performance bonuses in the past financial year despite the poor state of the finances of the towns and cities they run. “In total, R249-million [including performance bonuses] was paid to municipal managers last year,” said DA local government spokesman James Lorimer, who based his assessment on National Treasury figures.
This is all good news as it seems that government is serious about curbing exorbitant salaries, making sure that only qualified people take up these positions and that they have performance agreements in place.
Then there is the case of a municipal manager at a medium capacity municipality in the rural Eastern Cape who, including performance bonus, earned a total of R1,7m. Put in context to the R2.3m paid to Dlamini mentioned in the article, I think this verges on the obscene.
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