NEWSINBRIEF
Salary increases of more than 12% are on the cards for the president, deputy president, Cabinet ministers and long- serving MPs.
The commission charged with regulating public representatives’ salaries has proposed a three-tier remuneration structure for parliamentarians and ministers according to their length of service, the highest of which will allot a 15,5% increase.
MPs who were elected last year will get only a 0,04% increase of R10E000 on their current R264E800 package, which includes a R54E960 car allowance.
The new salary packages have been proposed by the Independent Commission for the Remuneration of Public Office- Bearers, which is appointed in terms of the Constitution.
The commission has proposed that President Thabo Mbeki should receive a total remuneration package of R789E574 with effect from April 1 – an increase of R90E574, or 12,9%, from his current package of R699E000.
Recommendations for increases to members of provincial legislatures have also been made but the figures were not included in the Government Gazette notice of the commission’s recommendations.
The commission proposed increasing the allowances and subsistence for members of the National House of Traditional Leaders, provincial houses of traditional leaders, kings, chiefs and headmen by 5%.
It said the upper limits of annual remuneration of members of transitional local government should also be increased by 5%. The commission’s recommendations will now be presented to the Cabinet for approval. – Barry Streek
ANC’s plans for megacities
The African National Congress is pushing ahead with plans for centralised control over the five proposed megacities in the country, namely Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town, Pretoria and Port Elizabeth.
Despite opposition to the executive mayoral system, which vests all authority in the mayor, the ANC said it was confident of adopting it even in provinces outside its control, such as KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape.
The ANC is also to forge ahead with plans to deploy senior party members to head the megacities. Names such as Minister of Transport Dullah Omar, ANC Western Cape leader Ebrahim Rasool and the head of Johannesburg’s change management committee, Kenny Fihla, have been bandied about as possible candidates for the Cape Town and Johannesburg posts.
The Inkatha Freedom Party, the New National Party and the Democratic Party, which are part of the provincial governments in the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, have indicated that they will oppose the executive mayoral systems in the two provinces. – Jaspreet Kindra
Jealousy leads to shooting
The Rondebult shebeen in which nine people were gunned down this week could have been targeted by a rival shebeen owner because it sold beer R2,50 cheaper, making it one of the East Rand township’s most popular pubs. The attackers on Shakes Tavern fled with R1E300 and a cellphone shortly after the shooting, which also left more than 10 patrons injured.
The owner of the tavern, Caswell “Bra Shakes” Mhlohlo, told the Mail & Guardian this week the brutal attack on more than 30 patrons could have been carried out by a rival shebeen owner jealous of the thriving tavern.
Mhlohlo said he believed that the motive for the killing was not robbery. He said two weeks before his tavern was attacked he was approached by two police officers, who claimed to have received complaints from Rondebult residents about his tavern.
East Rand police say the attack on Shakes Tavern follows a number of other tavern attacks in the area that has left more than 20 people dead in recent weeks. – Evidence wa ka Ngobeni
Air pollution tackled
Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Mohammed Valli Moosa this week conceded that South Africa has no proper infrastructure to monitor air pollution and vowed that the government would attempt to source funds to monitor air pollution in the country.
At a press conference in Durban, Moosa cited KwaZulu-Natal as having the country’s worst air, with much of the pollution being attributed to the oil refineries around Durban. Moosa says the province has only two air pollution officers to police the province. South Africa at present does not have any legally enforceable pollution legislation and relies on industry self- regulation.
The M&G (April 28 to May 4) reported that children living near South Africa’s oil refineries were four times more likely to suffer serious chest complaints.
Moosa’s undertaking came just four days after 180 children had to be treated for inhaling poisonous chlorine gas that escaped from the Polifin factory in Umbogintwini, south of Durban. It is the second time Polifin has had a serious leak of dangerous gas.
This week the situation improved for those living in polluted areas when environmental campaigner and the head of environmental group GroundWork, Bobby Peek, said his organisation would be hosting a group of American air pollution experts, who will be visiting South Africa next week to teach communities how to monitor air pollution levels. Samples taken by communities themselves will be shipped to the United States for testing and analysis. – Paul Kirk
Buthelezi’s foreign adviser
The continued employment of Mario Oriani- Ambrosini as the special adviser to Minister of Home Affairs Mangosuthu Buthelezi, at a salary of R376 284,33 in the 1999/2000 financial year, has not yet been confirmed.
Buthelezi told Parliament: “The term of the contract of Dr Oriani-Ambrosini is subject to negotiation between the president and the minister of home affairs.”
The Italian-born Oriani-Ambrosini, an American citizen, has been employed as Buthelezi’s adviser since 1994, despite being a foreigner and despite not having a security clearance from the National Intelligence Agency.
His appointment is contrary to a Cabinet ruling that only South African citizens may be appointed special advisers. In October 1999 the Sunday Times reported that Buthelezi had been told by the Cabinet to fire his special adviser or explain to President Thabo Mbeki why he should be retained. It was also reported that Mbeki had defused a debate in the Cabinet about Ambrosini’s hiring by saying that he would work with Buthelezi to resolve the matter. – Barry Streek