Business Day reported that Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi came out in support of the high salaries that some municipal managers earn, saying that market-related wages had to be paid for skills.

Mufamadi’s comment comes amid violent protests over poor service delivery and revelations last year that some municipal managers earned more than President Thabo Mbeki.

The minister said that if municipalities hoped to attract people with the required skills then they had to pay market-related salaries.

“If you take eThekwini Municipality, it has a bigger budget than the province of KwaZulu-Natal, so you want the person who manages it to be a competent person.”

“I think if eThekwini is doing as well as Anglo American then, yes, it is good for the country, and you want to encourage that.” Mufamadi is quoted as saying.

On the issue that many of the high salaries are paid out to managers of the poorer, small, rural municipalities, Mufamadi said there was a need for an incentive to lure properly qualified people to these areas.

“People with the right qualifications tend to want to live in cities like Johannesburg, where they can earn good salaries in return. If we want to pay low salaries we need to lower our expectations accordingly,” he said.

Source: Business Day