The Makana Municipal Council has recently been asked to consider bumping up the part-time positions of Speaker and Chief Whip – held by members of the ruling party – to full-time positions. Councillors discussed this at Thursday’s council meeting where opposition parties voiced their concerns.
“I am not addressing the individuals but am addressing the positions,” DA Councillor Les Reynolds said before he proposed that there needs to be a proper report as to why these posts have to be full-time and if there is additional money in the budget to pay those salaries. “Once we have done that, then we know that the council has done its job."
The Makana Municipal Council has recently been asked to consider bumping up the part-time positions of Speaker and Chief Whip – held by members of the ruling party – to full-time positions. Councillors discussed this at Thursday’s council meeting where opposition parties voiced their concerns.
“I am not addressing the individuals but am addressing the positions,” DA Councillor Les Reynolds said before he proposed that there needs to be a proper report as to why these posts have to be full-time and if there is additional money in the budget to pay those salaries. “Once we have done that, then we know that the council has done its job."
What we need from the MM [Municipal Manager] is a set-up: how a person in that position will fill up eight hours a day, five days a week.” He added that they need a proper job description and details of how the posts will be funded, otherwise they will hear from the Auditor General. “We need to satisfy that we are spending our money in a proper and just way.”
Municipal Manager, Ntombi Baart, said that the comments from Finance in the report do not indicate if they can afford it. “It will be appropriate for council to consider this when they do the budget adjustment,” she said. However, Baart also said that the information that she has received indicates that there is sufficient budget. She added that as administration positions, they will not be able to follow Reynolds's proposal for job descriptions without guidance from council.
Executive Mayor Zamuxolo Peter appealed to the council to apply in the meantime to the MEC for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs for approval. He said that in terms of the law, a council of this size may not be granted this opportunity. “But nothing stops this council to forward an application… We won’t implement this unless this council has satisfied itself,” he added.
Councillor Nozipho Plaatjie of Cope asked, “Is this council ready to employ two more full time councillors in terms of the budget? Are we ready in terms of capacity of council?” She seconded Reynolds's proposal to be provided with more information.
DA Councillor Brian Fargher said that the council needs to clearly indicate that it has not yet approved the proposal, but has given the go-ahead for the matter to be taken up with the MEC.
The Remuneration of Public Office Bearers Act of 1998 states that a full-time councillor is a councillor who has been elected or appointed to an office which has been designated as a full-time position in terms of section 18 of the Municipal Structures Act. According to the report, the functions of Speaker as stated in Section 37 of the Municipal Structures Act, ensures effective oversight over the implementation of council decisions and that of its structures. The Chief Whip also has an important oversight role in the political management of all party-to-party relations and support within the municipal council. The report motivates that the positions of Speaker and Chief Whip need to become full-time as: “municipality has experienced a phenomenal growth over the past years,” which can be attributed to, and among other things, an increase of wards and councillors.
The current salary and budget of the Speaker, according to the report, is a total package of R289 019 per year. This is broken up into a salary of R207 697, telephone allowance of R12 090 and transport allowance of R69 232. The Chief Whip is budgeted a salary package of R200 906 which is made up of R141 614 for salary, R12 092 for telephone allowance and R47 200 for travelling.
According to the report if the positions were to be made full-time they would be earning:
Speaker
Salary: R363 053
Vehicle allowance: R121 018
Total remuneration package: R484 071
Chief Whip
Salary: R340 362
Vehicle allowance: R113 454
Total remuneration package: 453 816
