Daily News reports that an attempt by the ANC to increase eThekwini city manager Sipho Nzuza’s salary by about R700,000 has been stymied by opposition parties.
They walked out of an in-committee meeting after the full council on Wednesday, breaking the quorum and thereby blocking adoption of the confidential report which had sought to apply for salary package waivers from the national co-operative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta) department. According to the report, the committee recommended that acting mayor Fawzia Peer be mandated to apply to the Cogta minister for waivers to place Nzuza at the maximum limits of the total remuneration package of R3,934,423. Nzuza’s current salary is R3,296,589. The salaries of Beryl Mphakathi (deputy city manager: human settlements, engineering and eThekwini transport authority); Phillip Sithole (deputy city manager: economic development and planning); and Musa Mbhele (chief operations officer) were set to increase to R2,601,272. It is not known how much they earn currently. A source said the opposition parties walked out of the in-committee meeting when the item was raised. “It was chaotic and the parties would have nothing to do with the salary increments. This is strange because ANC councillors have been calling for Nzuza to go following the suspension of (mayor) Zandile Gumede. Suddenly they want to give him a salary increase of almost R700,000. This is madness,” commented the source.
- Read the full original of the above report by Chris Ndaliso at Daily News
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