Issued by: Office of the President
Re: RESPONSE TO MEDIA COMMENTS ON COMMISSIONS ON REMUNERATION OF REPRESENTATIVES' RECOMMENDATIONS IN RESPECT OF THE REMUNERATION OF REPRESENTATIVES AT LOCAL GOVERNMENT LEVEL
The Commissions' advice on local government remuneration was an innovative proposal which it hoped would with flexible application contain the size of local government whilst providing fair remuneration for those involved.
The central idea is that councillor remuneration should be determined directly by the number of inhabitants that they serve. This was borne out through consultation by our consultants KPMG Global Edge. With this in mind the consultants examined the cost per inhabitant of a particular area compared to the salary bill of councillors. This translated into an average of R6 per inhabitant per year for the maintenance of a councillor body.
Whilst some councillors do receive pay increases, their increases are based on maintaining an optimal ratio of councillors to constituents. This means that a council with many councillors relative to inhabitants will receive proportionately lower individual packages when compared to a council serving the same number of inhabitants but supporting more councillors. Our aim is that councils will adjust the number of councillors relative to the people they serve.
Furthermore, the proposed increases by the Interim Consultative Body on Local Government (ICB) were calculated on a percentage of a Member of Provincial Legislature (MPL) salary at that time, and are higher than our recommendations even then. Hence, those same recommendations would be significantly higher given the increases to MPL's salaries proposed now.
For example:
Alberton (population of 192 950 - 28 councillors)
Position Present ICB Recomm. Commission Rec. Mayor/Chair-Exco. 8 183 13 860 7 094 Dep. Mayor/Exco. Mem. 4 092/6 137 8 320 4 245 Councillor 2 046 5 540 2 830
Greylingstad (population of 15 000 - 9 councillors)
Position Present ICB Recomm. Commission Rec. Mayor/Chair-Exco. 1 213 3 850 3 750 Dep. Mayor/Exco. Mem. 910 2 310 2 250 Councillor 303 1 540 1 500
Edenvale/Modderfontein (population of 146 000 - 12 councillors)
Position Present ICB Recomm. Commission Rec. Mayor/Chair-Exco. 6 669 13 860 10 112 Dep. Mayor/Exco. Mem. 3 334/5 002 8 320 6 067 Councillor 1 667 5 540 4 044
However, there is a bigger picture here. Our aim is to remunerate individuals fairly for the work performed rather than resorting to any arbitrary criteria of earnings. We believe that the relative workloads on councillors is directly determined by the constituents served. Similarly, the fewer the number of councillors in a particular area (relative to population) means that there is a greater workload for each councillor. Our model takes this into account.
The proposed salaries, therefore reflect fair remuneration for work performed. This does not mean that local government coffers are necessarily able to support these amounts. To this end, the Commission's recommendations proposed the present factor of R6 per inhabitant for discussion rather than presenting it as non-negotiable. The idea was that MEC's would consider the financial implications of the recommendations and adjust the factor accordingly. It does not mean that because the results are not affordable in their present form that the entire set of proposals are not valid.
Similarly, the issue of retaining excellent councillors must necessarily be linked to remuneration. Many outstanding individuals devote much time to council duties and as a result sacrifice earnings from their usual employment. We do not believe, therefore, that any councillor would be fairly remunerated at a salary of anything less than our base recommendation of R1 500.
The Chairperson of the Commission, Judge Jan Steyn, is on judicial duties in the Appeal Court, Botswana, and this statement is issued on behalf of the Commission by its Secretary in consultation with KPMG Global Edge.
SECRETARY COMMISSION ON THE REMUNERATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
22 January 1997
Enquiries: I Olivier, Tel: 021-4197783