Municipal Mangers get paid millions, while workers made to suffer
SAMWU notes with concern that Municipal Managers earn far in access of high ranking politicians. What is more worrying to us, is that while Municipal Managers get paid exorbitant salaries, workers are time and time again refused a decent living wage in the form of annual wage increases and more equitable wage curves.
It is worrying that Municipal Managers of six of South Africa's cities all earn more than their political bosses, this is before the huge increases they stand to receive in July this year. Tshwane city manager Jason Ngobeni and his Johannesburg counterpart, Trevor Fowler, after the absurd increases of about 20% being proposed, now stand to earn R3.25m and R3.23m a year from 1 July 2012.
It is ridiculous that these managers get paid millions, even though the Municipalities they work for are plagued with corruption, nepotism, crisis and the poor delivery of services.
President Zuma earns about R2.5m a year, Deputy President Motlanthe about R2.2m and Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng is paid R2.23m a year.
The severity of the challenges faced by many Municipalities warrants many of these managers to be sacked, let alone receive handsome remunerations and performance bonuses.
Once workers learn that their city manager receives such hefty salaries, we can expect nothing less than outrage, given that in some Municipalities, the lowest paid workers get paid as little as R3000 per month.
Municipalities must ensure that they deal with corruption, the poor delivery of services, see to it that it pays workers a decent living wage, gives workers a decent annual wage increase of 13%, fill all vacant positions and pay workers a minimum salary of R6000 per month. Workers deserve nothing less than a decent living wage and their managers far less, given that many of them are unable to get the basics right.
Statement issued by Tahir Sema, SAMWU National Media and Publicity Officer, May 28 2012
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