Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, has made amendments to the salary tables for mayors, speakers and mayoral executive council members in South Africa.

In a gazette published this week, Dlamini-Zuma made changes to the upper limits of salaries for these top government officials and added allowable limits for cellphone bills covered for part-time councillors.

Under the current system, municipal workers are paid based on a point system that factors into its municipal income and the population that falls under the municipality.

The sum of the number of points allocated to a municipal council in terms of the above table determines the grade of such municipal council as follows:

This table is then used to determine the pay of mayors and other top municipal workers, including the deputy mayor, speakers, mayoral committee members, executives of sub-councils, and whips.

The table below outlines how much these government officials get paid:

The only amendment to the remuneration packages is a reduction for level 1 chairpersons of oversight committees, where the figure has been cut to R592,395 from R615,055 before. The previous figure was higher than both level 2 chairpersons and level 1 MECs.

Other perks

In addition to their annual wages, top municipal workers in South Africa can expect a number of other benefits, including:

• Motor vehicle and travel allowance  – A councillor who uses a privately-owned vehicle for the execution of official duties on behalf of the municipality may be reimbursed for official kilometres travelled, in addition to the total remuneration package of a councillor.

• Out-of-pocket expenses – A councillor may, in addition to the total remuneration package, be reimbursed for reasonable and actual out-of-pocket expenses incurred during the execution of official or ceremonial duties, in accordance with the applicable municipal council policy.

• Upper limits of cell phone allowance for councillors – A councillor may be paid a cell phone allowance not exceeding R3,400 per month in accordance with the applicable municipal council policy. This includes now mobile data.

• Special risk cover – A municipality must take out risk insurance cover, to provide for an insurance cover, provided to a councillor by the municipality, which covers the loss of or damage to a councillor’s personal immovable or moveable property and assets, excluding property used by such councillor for business purposes, as well as life and disability cover, for any loss or damage caused by riot, civil unrest, strike or public disorder. The special risk insurance on residential property will be limited to R1.5 million, while on vehicles, it is limited to R750,000. The life and disability insurance cover is limited to two times the total remuneration package of a councillor.

Changes to the perks include amendments adding the payment of cellphone expenses for part-time councillors, and the upper limit for mobile data of R300.00 has been set to be included in this limit for both full-time and part-time councillors.

Salary changes for mayors, speakers and other top officials in South Africa – here’s how much they get paid (businesstech.co.za)