It is a welcome proposal by the South African Local Government Association (Salga) last week at its national conference that it wants a remuneration system for municipal councillors, including the Mayor and Speaker, that is based on performance and accountability.
Most local governments in the country are on the brink of collapse, with service delivery having come to a standstill while mayors and councillors pocket a healthy portion of the town coffers.
Even President Cyril Ramaphosa has admitted the collapse of local governments. In his address at the recent conference, he referenced a report by the national Department of Cooperative Government and Traditional Affairs showing that only 5% of municipalities in the country are financially stable.
Salga is a watch-dog authority over municipalities in South Africa and is among others responsible to oversee that municipalities provide better and more efficient services to their tax payers.
As proven, all too often municipalities squander the tax payers’ money for personal gain – that includes paying themselves huge salaries for little or even no delivery.
A common complaint is – where or even who, is our councillor?
Getting a seat on local government has become far too easy.
Within business, performance related pay is standard practice, why should this not be applicable in local government? Hopefully Salga will implement this system and it should rightfully read; No work, no pay.
