Well paid councillors and mayors do not deserve such hefty salaries
The South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) notes that Mayors salaries will for the first time top one million Rand; we also note that councillor's salaries will be drastically hiked-up. The increase in salaries would cost already overburden ratepayers Billions of Rand's extra every year. This substantial increase is to go to councillors and mayors who are not even performing as they ought to be.
Local Government is the most corrupt sphere of Government with the least oversight.
When workers demanded more than the meagre 6% annual wage increase that was offered to them this year, the South African Local Government Association (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 and mayors will earn 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 councillors who had been demanding such hefty salaries do not have the communities' interest at heart.
It is clear that the salaries that are being earned by some councillors are a bid to use Government structures to enrich individuals.
To give such a hefty salary 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.
Statement issued by Tahir Sema, SAMWU National Media and Publicity Officer, December 21 2011
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