Cape Town - City mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis will now earn R1.44million while his deputy and council speaker will walk away with just over R1.16m after council approved recommendations to raise salaries.
The salary increases are linked to the top grade recommended by the South African Local Government Association (Salga) pay structure.
The 3% increase, which will take effect retroactively from July 1, will push Hill-Lewis’s total annual salary package up from R1.4m as well his deputy’s, Eddie Andrews and the speaker Felicity Purchase.
The basic salary packages of chairpersons of sub-councils will now increase to around R1.1m - earning the same salary as Mayco members.
Councillors will now earn basic salaries of just over R541 000 per annum up from R525 000.
All council members will also receive cellphone allowances of R40 800 per year in addition to pension fund contributions, special risk cover for councillors’ vehicles worth up to R750 000 and transport allowances.
In presenting the proposal in council, DA councillor Anthony Moses, said the salary increases were an acknowledgement of the hard work councillors carried out under difficult circumstances.
He said the increase were also justified given the rising costs of commodities.
“It’s a move in the right direction. In the previous years, councillors sacrificed salary increases,” said Moses.
He said some steps would be taken to address “inconsistencies” of remuneration among all public office bearers across local government to ensure that they earned the same salaries.
A budget of R179 826 would be needed to cover the salaries with the City indicating that it would require about R4.4m to cover the shortfall.
The new salary packages will also see the mayor earning just below the R1.97m total remuneration of a deputy minister but slightly more than the R1.137m earned by an MP or permanent delegate to the National Council of Provinces.
In 2021, President Cyril Ramaphosa approved salary increases which also saw premiers earning total remuneration of over R2.26m and just over R1m for members of the provincial legislatures.
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and the Pan African Congress (PAC) were the only two parties that did not support the salary increases.
EFF councillor Linda Mazwi said councillors were already in a “beautiful” income bracket as opposed to general employees.
“As a socialist party we do not support politicians enriching themselves.”
Hill-Lewis sought clarity from the EFF on whether the party was declining the salary increase.
But no indication was forthcoming.
Weekend Argus