Parliament’s Deputy Speaker must head probe into secret salary hike by Speaker Mapisa-Nqakula
10 October 2023
The DA has written to the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr Lechesa Tsenoli, to refer the investigation into the Speaker of the National Assembly, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula to the Powers and Privileges Committee.
Ordinarily, a Member of Parliament would refer a complaint about another MP to the Speaker for investigation who would then refer matters for investigation and adjudication to the said Committee. However, because she is at the center of these grave allegations of misconduct, and therefore conflicted, the Deputy Speaker now needs to take the lead in handling of the case.
The Sunday Times revealed this past weekend that Parliament’s Political Heads – Mapisa-Nqakula and the Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces, Amos Masondo – approved a secret 70% salary hike for the Secretary to Parliament, Mr Xolile George, raising his salary from the advertised and approved maximum of R2.6 million to R4.4 million.
Parliament approved the appointment of George in June 2022 based on the misleading information provided by the Speaker in Parliament. It is alleged that less than three months after his appointment, the Political Heads secretly agreed to raise Mr George’s salary to R4.4 million, information which was not disclosed to Parliament. It remains officially undisclosed.