Mungo Soggot
A TOP Johannesburg accountant has hit the public purse jackpot, earning what appears to be the highest salary in the government sector — as much as R88 000 a month, considerably more than President Nelson Mandela takes home.
A spokesman for the Department of Finance confirmed this week that Charles Stride, who was appointed by former Finance Minister Chris Liebenberg, was being paid hourly as a consultant — despite the fact he acts as special adviser.
Theoretically this puts him above Transnet chairman Louise Tager — who was this week said by Public Enterprises Minister Stella Sigcau to earn a salary of R500 000 a year — and Mandela, who earns R552 000.
Liebenberg hired Stride, formerly a senior partner at Fisher Hoffman and Stride (now Fisher Hoffman Sithole), to help transform South Africa’s dilapidated tax collection services, but Stride’s role has expanded considerably since then.
He had a key role in the attempted privatisation of Mossgas, sitting on a four-man government task team which oversaw the process, and has participated in other fuel industry debates. He was also involved in government’s recent appointment of privatisation advisers.
Although Stride’s original contract was linked to Liebenberg’s term of office, Cabinet asked him to stay on when Liebenberg resigned. Finance Minister Trevor Manuel’s team has renegotiated a new arrangement. The ministry said Stride would be reporting to Deputy Finance Minister Gill Marcus.
However, there appears to be some confusion over whether Stride, whose business card says he is special adviser to the minister, is a special adviser or a consultant.
In 1994 Cabinet ruled that special advisers be paid the equivalent of R120 to R180 an hour, but that they receive a monthly salary on the assumption that they work an eight-hour day. The idea was that their remuneration would be in line with what senior civil servants received. One official said although the scale had increased in line with inflation it had not tripled.
If Stride was billed for an eight-hour day he would earn about R60 000 a month, or R720 000 a year. The finance ministry did not say how many hours he usually worked, but confirmed he was paid R320 an hour under the old contract and R380 under the new. It said he was also provided with an allowance for a secretary, travel expenses and VAT, which would explain higher monthly totals than R60 000.
Although Stride acts as a special adviser — the title on his business card — he was employed as a consultant, an apparent circumvention of the Cabinet rules.
Although the hourly rate is not unusually high by consultants’ standards, it is generous considering Stride has a full time job with the department, other government officials noted. Stride declined to comment and Manuel said Stride’s remuneration was set by the auditor general. The minister added that it was appropriate considering Stride was formerly a senior partner at Fisher Hoffman.
l Sigcau denied claims that Tager’s salary amounted to R900 000 and Transnet refused to comment on anything related to the matter, including whether Tager worked only part-time. There is speculation that Tager’s total package is indeed worth about R900 000, including various fringe benefits.