Government spent R45 billion to pay 37,800 employees over R1 million each

The Minister of Public Service and Administration, Noxolo Kiviet, revealed that, over the last year, the government spent R45.4 billion on salaries of employees earning over R1 million a year.

Kiviet shared this information in response to a question from Leon Schreiber, the DA’s Shadow Minister of Public Service and Administration.

Schreiber’s question followed data from Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana that 55,000 government employees earn over R1 million per year.

Godongwana shared this information as part of his Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS).

He revealed that the number of government employees earning over R1 million per year has risen from 10,000 in 2013/14 to over 55,000 in 2023/24.

This is partly why the government employee wage bill skyrocketed from R408 billion in 2013/2014 to R724 billion in 2023/2024.

To find further information on this issue, Schreiber asked Kiviet for:

• The detailed breakdown of the current average salary for each of the 16 salary bands in the Public Service.

• The total amount will be spent annually on the salaries of the Public Service in terms of the latest wage agreement in each of the 16 salary bands.

• The total amount of the specified amount will be spent annually on employees in each specified salary band in the Public Service.

• The breakdown of the total number of employees currently employed in each of the 16 salary bands in the Public Service.

Kiviet shared a table with this information, revealing that 37,839 government employees earn over R1 million annually.

There are 28,343 employees who earn an average of R1.08 million annually. A further 6,754 employees earn R1.23 million per year, and 1,994 earn R1.24 million.

On the high end, 631 government employees get R1.74 million annually, and 117 earn an average of R2.16 million.

The state’s salary bill for government employees earning over R1 million annually is R45.35 billion.

The bad news for South African taxpayers is that this salary billion will significantly increase in the current financial year.

In the first quarter, the Public Service and Administration confirmed that public servants would receive a wage increase of 4.7% on 1 April 2024.

This increase was in line with a wage deal signed by the government and unions at the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC) in Pretoria in March 2023.

source:Government spent R45 billion to pay 37,800 employees over R1 million each – Daily Investor