Patricia de Lille, executive mayor, City of Cape of Town
Unless the City council can gain control of its staff costs, Cape Town is headed for serious financial problems.
In a detailed examination of the draft budget for this year, we found that provision has been made for pay increases of 17 and 18% for the top executives, turning them all into multi-millionaires.
Senior managers are set for a 13.8% increase.
According to the draft budget, the municipal manager will earn a total package of R4 064 276 a year or R339 000 a month. The chief finance officer is set to earn about R3.8 million. The executive director of the mayor’s office will see his salary rise by 18% to nearly R3.3 million. Others in the R3.3 million bracket (R274 000 a month) include the executive directors for corporate services, informal settlements, water and waste services, safety and security, social services, transport and urban development.
The executive director for energy gets a 10% increase and moves up to R2.3 million a year.
By contrast the mayor and deputy mayor earn R1.45m and R1.2m.
When the unions see increases of 18% and multi-million rand packages for other senior staff, their demands will rocket. Negotiating in these circumstances will be difficult to say the least.
