MANDLA RADEBE of Norkem Park writes:
A salary negotiation season is always interesting in South Africa, but the most shocking salary demand is the one by South African Local Government Association (SALGA) of which our metro, Ekurhuleni, is a member.
SALGA has recently demanded that all councillors across the board be paid R1.3-million per annum, irrespective of the size of their municipalities, after next year’s municipal election. There is a big problem of principle with this demand.
Firstly, they argue that this salary will put them on par with members of parliament (MPs), because they perform the same job as they do. The biggest question to this argument is, why do we need them if the job performed is the same? Surely one layer has to go, either them or MPs.
Secondly, the question we have to ask ourselves as ratepayers is, do we get the value of the money we pay to municipalities? The answer is an emphatic, no, we don’t. A salary paid by the private sector to the tune demanded is performance-based. It is based on the return that the corporation gets from the person employed.
If you pay for something and are not getting it, that means someone who does not pay for it, is getting it. What MPs and councillors do, is basically vote themselves into desired salaries, expensive cars and there is no public participation in the process. All government layers are paid out of corporate and personal taxes collected by SARS and an increase like that would mean an increase in taxes.
Rates have already gone up and they will go up every year with an above inflation percentage. We are pressed from every side by people who do less and demand more. Teachers, doctors and nurses are getting less than seven per cent of the little they are earning, but office bearers who produce nothing but paperwork, name it and claim it, high. Very unfair.
What university does one go to, to be a councillor or an MP? What degree do they study for? What experience do they need to do their jobs and to be paid what they demand? None to all, just be a comrade of a political party.
The work of councillors and MPs is political appointment that should never pay in competition to private sector, because when you sign up to take it, you are serving the people. They are good at pronouncing themselves as servants of the people, but few of them live like that.
Teachers and doctors have a professional degree and nurses have specialised training and qualifications, and they are professionally screened as fit for their jobs. They don’t get half as much as this demand. We must be careful of the message we are sending to our children about the importance of education. This demand means we would rather reward politicians for less work than professionals less for more work.
The other thing we must think about as cities, and more especially about SALGA is, how is SALGA acting in the interest of our cities and their ratepayers? What is their importance? If we were to wake up and have no SALGA, would our lives be worse off? Personally, I am not convinced of a positive role that SALGA is playing.
All they do is agree on by how much they can increase the financial burden on ratepayers every year. This demand is one example of much financial damage they intend to make against ratepayers and taxpayers.
Bear all of this in mind as you prepare to vote next year!
