Salary hikes for mayors, speakers and other officials in South Africa – here’s how much they get paid

Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Thembis Nkadimeng has adjusted the salary tables for South African mayors, speakers and mayoral executive council members.

In a gazette, Nkadimeng changed the upper limits for salaries of top government officials.

While the national government does not determine the salaries for municipal managers – this is determined by council in terms of their budget plans – it does set the limits for their salaries and pay.

Municipal employees salaries are based on a point system which considers the municipal income and the population served by the municipality.

The number of points received from adding these two factors gives the municipal council a grade, which the table below outlines:

The pay of mayors, deputy mayors, speakers, mayoral committee members, executives of sub-councils, and whips is determined using the table.

The table below outlines how much these government officials get paid based on their grade.

Other perks

• Car Allowance: A councillor who uses their own privately used vehicle for official duties will be reimbursed for the official kilometres travelled.

• Out-of-pocket expenses: A councillor may be reimbursed for reasonable and actual out-of-pocket expenses incurred during the execution of official or ceremonial duties.

• Phone allowance: A councillor may also receive a cell phone allowance of R3,600 per month in accordance with the applicable municipal council policy. The councillor may also receive an allowance on the use of data bundles not exceeding R317 per month.

• Special risk cover: The municipality must also take out risk insurance to cover the loss or damage to a councillor’s personal immovable or moveable property and assets, as well as life and disability cover, for any loss of damage caused by riot civil unrest, strike or public disorder. The special risk insurance for residential property is limited to R1.5 million and R750,000 for vehicles. The life and disability cover is limited to two times the total remuneration package of the councillor.

Pay increases

The changes in pay for local government officials can be found below. The salary increases are 3.8% across all positions:

Executive Mayor

Speaker, Executive Deputy Mayor or Deputy Mayor

Member of the Executive Mayorial Committee, Whip or Chairperson of a Subcouncil

Chairperson of Oversight Committee

The official salary changes can be found below:

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