PAY BOOST ON THE CARDS FOR MBEKI

Wow! I am gob-smacked! Whilst an estimated 4 million odd are unemployed and many more live below the poeverty line. People in power are getting 54% increases on what is already a huge monthly salary. How do they justify their earnings - well you see "if they get decent salaries they will not be tempted to be corrupt". What a load of BS! BY giving themselves the kind of salaries that they are they are proving to me exactly how easily corruptable they are. These kinds of salaries for the powers who are supposed to be serving the people is nothing short of obscene. Let's wait and see what happens and who gets what!

Pay boost on the cards for Mbeki

Ben Maclennan

Cape Town, South Africa

30 March 2007 02:13

President Thabo Mbeki should get a 57% pay hike, the Independent Commission for the Remuneration of Public Office Bearers has recommended. This would add R716 962 to the president's package, bringing it to R1,89-million a year. The recommendation is made in a comprehensive review of the remuneration of public office bearers including Cabinet ministers, MPs, provincial legislators, judges, magistrates and local councillors. The review, the result of years of research, was handed to Mbeki on Thursday, and made public on Friday.

Mbeki's increase, if approved by MPs -- who have been recommended for a 5,4% hike -- will still bring him nowhere near key figures in parastatals such as Transnet boss Maria Ramos. Ramos earned R6,9-million last year. South African Airways chief executive Khaya Ngqula weighed in at R6,85-million, while Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni currently gets R2,8-million. Mbeki has in past years deliberately not taken the full amount of pay he is entitled to.

Commission chairperson Judge Dikgang Moseneke said the main aim of the review, which was distinct from the commission's annual recommendations, was to offer a "fair and transparent remuneration system" for public office bearers. Since the advent of constitutional democracy in South Africa, their roles had changed radically, and structure and levels of pay were now marked by "significant disparities and inequities". "This is the first substantial report that seeks to find an equitable basis for remuneration," said Moseneke, who is also deputy chief justice.

Packages had been benchmarked against the private sector, parastatals, and international practice -- a process that involved fact-finding visits to Australia, Canada and the United Nations headquarters in New York.Asked about the justification for Mbeki's package, he said the primary purpose of the review was not to simply give people more money, but to strengthen key institutions of democracy. In that process, the commission had looked not at individuals, but at the complexity of the job they did. In Mbeki's case, the commission had tried to find a number that was equitable in terms of trends in the market, the public sector and state-owned enterprises.

Moseneke would not be drawn on comparisons between parastatal salaries and those of members of the executive. However, he did say that while public office was "not a place to make profits", for democracy to survive, one had to retain skilled people. "So there has to be a balance," he said. He also said better pay for public office bearers would help combat corruption. He said the commission merely made recommendations, and played no role in actually setting final pay packages.

Parliament determined the salary and benefits of the president, and the president in turn has the power to decide the salaries of MPs. The president and Parliament together set pay for judges. Government communications spokesperson Themba Maseko said Mbeki would decide how the report would be handled."It's his report, so he decides what needs to happen," Maseko said.

The commission has recommended a 5,4% increase for MPLs, 22,35% for premiers, 5,4% for mayors and councillors, 16,6% for High Court judges, 14,8% for magistrates, and a 65% hike for Chief Justice Pius Langa.Moseneke himself is in line for a 50,5% increase, which will bring his total package to R1,54-million. - Sapa