/ 23 September 2015

Hlaudi Motsoeneng gets R1-million pay jump

SABC COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng at the matric announcement of the 2014 results.
SABC COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng at the matric announcement of the 2014 results.

Controversial SABC chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng’s salary has increased by almost a R1-million, in one year. 

Motsoeneng has gone from an annual salary of just over R 2.8-million in 2014, to R3.7-million in the year ended March 31, 2015. 

In the annual report tabled in Parliament on Wednesday, the public broadcaster’s salary bill for directors and senior management has gone down from over R54-million in 2014, to R47-million by March 2015. 

While most executives’ salaries seem to have taken a bit of a knock, Motsoeneng’s has increased by over 30%. 

The increase includes a R544 000 increase in his basic salary, R279 000 in bonuses and commissions and R916 000 for other allowances. In the 2014 financial year, he did not have any bonuses reported. 

The public broadcaster received a qualified audit opinion with findings mostly centred around the lack of control systems around TV licences and irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure.

In the report, Motsoeneng lauds the SABC’s strong financial standing, as the corporation posted a cash balance of over a R1-billion. 

“This was in spite of declining economic conditions, increased competition in the broadcasting industry, factors relating to load shedding and decreasing public funding.” 

The Democratic Alliance said they would be calling for the public protector to investigate the increase. 

The party is currently involved in a court battle to get him off his position in the public broadcaster after Thuli Madonsela found that his appointment was irregular. 

DA communications shadow minister Gavin Davis said the near million-rand pay increase for Motsoeneng was incomprehensible given the ongoing crisis at the SABC. 

“It is significant that in 2014 the public protector found Motsoeneng guilty of unlawfully increasing his own salary three times in the space of one year. It appears that he is at it again. 

“There can be no justification for Motsoeneng’s salary to increase by 31% in one year. In comparison, other workers in the public sector such as nurses, teachers and police officers received a 7% increase over the same period,” Davis said in a statement. 

He alluded that Motsoeneng’s continued good fortune in the SABC was due to having friends in high places. 

“The fact is that Motsoeneng should have been suspended and disciplined by the SABC Board as directed by the Public Protector. Instead, Motsoeneng continues to rake in millions of rands at the expense of the TV licence paying public. 

“It should be remembered that Motsoeneng was earning just R 334 000 as an SABC radio producer in 2010. Five years later and his salary has increased more than ten-fold. Must be nice to have friends in high places.” 

He said the party would call for an investigation as they could not sit back and allow the chief operating officer to “wreck” the public broadcaster and be rewarded for doing so.