ANA reports that the Independent Commission for Remuneration of Public Office Bearers has recommended to President Cyril Ramaphosa that all politicians from councillors up to the head of state receive a 4% salary hike.  

The increase will be backdated to April this year if approved.  Judicial officers, including judges and magistrates as well as traditional leaders, will also get the same rise.  Head of the commission’s secretariat, Peter Makapan, said on Saturday that a meeting with Ramaphosa was scheduled for this week and it would be clear then whether or not the recommendation was acceptable.  The commission has recommended a salary increase of nearly R120,000 a year for Ramaphosa, which would take his annual pay from almost R3 million to above R3.1m.  Cosatu has called the proposal scandalous.  Spokesman Sizwe Pamla said it was shocking that the commission could recommend salary increases for the elite while there were moves to cut thousands of public service jobs and looming retrenchments at state-owned entities such as the SABC, Telkom and Eskom.  “We expect President Ramaphosa not just to reject the recommendations but to scold these people (the commission),” he said.

• Read the full original report by Loyiso Sidimba at IOL News

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