Government workers in South Africa ‘underpaid’ – massive salary hike on the cards

Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Velenkosini Hlabisa has adjusted the salary tables for South African mayors, speakers and mayoral executive council members for 2024/25.

In a gazette, Hlabisa changed the upper limits for salaries of top government officials by 2.5%, effective June 2024.

This follows last week’s gazette, where salaries were hiked by 3% for 2023/24 (effective June 2023).

However, recommendations from the Independent Commission for the Remuneration of Public Office Bearers—gazetted by the Presidency last week—want salaries hiked by a further 12% in the coming years to better reflect the ‘market reality’ of the positions.

While the national government does not determine the salaries for municipal managers—this is determined by the 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 that considers municipal income and the population served by the municipality.

Typically, the bigger the municipality and the greater the population, the higher the salary for the mayor and other officials.

Municipalities are graded using a point system based on the following tables:

2024/25

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

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 the upper limits of how much these government officials get paid based on their grade.

The changes in pay for local government officials can be found below. The salary increases are 2.5% across all positions effective June 2034.

2024/25

Bigger increases coming

According to a comprehensive review of the remuneration of office bearers, local government officials are generally underpaid when considering salary relativity (factoring in roles, responsibilities, international benchmarking and market analysis).

The report found, for example, that the salary relativity for Grade 6 mayors is around R1.93 million, compared to the R1.59 million they will get paid for 2024/25.

The Independent Commission for the Remuneration of Public Office Bearers recommends that future hikes be 12% to R1.78 million to reflect the market reality.

“The Mayor of a grade 6 municipality will have an anchor salary of R1,930,493. However, the Mayor of a grade 2 municipality will have an anchor salary of R1,082,312. Due to the huge gap between the current salary of Executive Mayor and the salary relativity, the Commission increased the current salary by 7% and made a further 5% adjustment to arrive at a recommended salary,” it said.

All other salaries below the Executive Mayor were increased and adjusted accordingly by 7% and 5% in its recommendations.

Councillors, for example, have a salary relativity of R1.075 million (grade 6), with the commission recommending a 12% hike to R666,922 to bring it close to that level.

The tables below outline the pay scales for 2024/25, what the commission deems as the market-reflective rate (salary relativity), and what it recommends it should be in future hikes.

Executive Mayor

Mayor / Executive Deputy Mayor

Speaker / Chairperson / Deputy Mayor

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

Chairperson of Oversight Committee

Councillor

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