Well paid Councillors do not deserve more, workers do
The South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) notes SALGA's arrogance and greed, in their demand for Councillor's salaries to be drastically hiked up to R815000 per annum. The increase South African Local Government Association (SALGA) is proposing would cost already overburden ratepayers R7 Billion rand extra every year (see TimesLive report).
When workers demanded more than the meagre 6% annual wage increase that was offered to them this year, SALGA stubbornly refused and said that there is not enough money to give a decent annual wage increase to workers. These are the same workers - working in the trenches, in hazardous conditions, day and night - to ensure that services are delivered. These are the people that deserve a drastic hike in pay, as they are some of the lowest paid workers in the sector.
Once workers learn that Councillors are demanding such a hefty salary, we can expect nothing less than outrage, given that in some Municipalities, the lowest paid workers get paid as little as R1500 per month. Besides, Councillors are there to serve the people not to become rich over-night. Those who are demanding such hefty salaries do not have the communities' interest at heart. It is clear that these demands are a bid to use Government structures to enrich individuals.
To give such a drastic pay hike to Councillors, who already get a decent living wage of about R500 000 per annum, depending on the Municipality, is absurd. SAMWU will ensure that we make SALGA give the middle and low income earners a decent living wage and not the already well paid even more.
We encourage the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs to not give in to SALGA and its outrageous demands but instead to rope-in SALGA and give guidance to it, as it is behaving like it is some kind of alien structure, independent of the Local Government sphere.
Statement issued by Tahir Sema, SAMWU, October 7 2011
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