President Cyril Ramaphosa approved a small salary increment for councillors at communications regulator Icasa.
The new remuneration levels are retrospective with effect from 1 April 2019, according to a notice published in the Government Gazette on Friday. Though only published in the Gazette on Friday, the document is signed 26 March 2020.
Councillors now earn R1.49-million/year, according to the document — a 2.8% increase.
The salary of the chairman, who also serves as a councillor, remains unchanged at R1.88-million/year.
The notification in the Government Gazette comes days after five — and then six — new members of the council were appointed by communications minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams.
The appointment of the new councillors became mired in controversy after Ndabeni-Abrahams initially asked the parliamentary portfolio committee on communications & digital technologies to appoint only four. She claimed she was concerned the names forwarded to her didn’t provide the right mix of skills needed by the regulator.
Criticism
The minister later appointed five councillors, drawing severe criticism from the Democratic Alliance, before backtracking and appointing a sixth councillor, Kgosie Matthews, who is a former board member at the Post Office.
News24 reported earlier last week that the minister only backtracked only after being summoned by ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule to a meeting where she was “instructed to obey parliament”.
Other than Matthews, the councillors appointed to Icasa are Keabetswe Modimoeng (who will service as chairman for a five-year term), Peter Zimri, Luthando Mkumatela, Yolisa Kedama and Charley Lewis. — (c) 2020 NewsCentral Media