Joburg councillors rewarded with salary hikes
ActionSA in Johannesburg has slammed the DA for its decision to vote with the ANC in support of a pay hike for councillors.
On Tuesday, the ANC, EFF and Patriotic Alliance, and the DA agreed on a salary increase, while the EFF and ActionSA voted against it.
The salary hikes come at a time when many of the residents of the city are under increasing financial pressure due to the increase in various tariffs approved by the same council.
Residents of Johannesburg are paying 2% more for property taxes, 9.3% for water and sanitation each, while there has also been an electricity tariff increase of 14.97% and a refuse tariff increase of 7%.
ActionSA says the increase in the salaries of all councillors will cost the city an additional R5.5 million per year, or R20,000 per councillor.
The vote by the DA in favour of the increase comes less than a month after it called for the dissolution of the council and for fresh elections to be held in the city.
ActionSA caucus leader in the city Nobuhle Mthembu says the DA cannot continue to criticise the city’s administration when it ensures its continued existence.
"ActionSA believes that at a time when the residents of Johannesburg are suffering from above-inflation rate increases and service delivery failures, councillors should not be rewarded with salary increases. These kinds of increases would never have been entertained in the private sector with any entity mirroring the level of performance of the Joburg Council, and they should not be entertained in Joburg today," said Mthembu.
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