According to labour analyst Andrew Levy, the median salary for government employees is around R45,000 to R46,000 per month. File Picture: Bongani Mbatha/ African News Agency (ANA) Archives
If you think public servants are paid less than their private sector counterparts, you are wrong.
According to labour analyst Andrew Levy, the median salary for government employees is around R45,000 to R46,000 per month.
Levy notes that the median salary in the private sector is only R26,000 per month.
In an interview with Newzroom Afrika, he said that even though the public sector had better remuneration, it did not mean that this translated into better productivity.
He argued that increases in salary for public sector servants that were not based on work productivity would not be sustainable over the long term.
“I do not think there would be a debate if they were more efficient and the government was able to increase its efficiency in step with the salary increases,” Levy said.
In August, it was revealed by the National Treasury that government had overspent by R2 billion on its salaries for public sector employees.
The main reason for this was the wage agreement struck in March this year between the State and the unions for a 7.5% increase in salaries for employees in the public sector, following months of negotiations.
Deputy Director-General for Public Finance in the National Treasury, Mampho Modise, told the standing committee on appropriations that the wage bill was projected to be R44.7 billion during the first quarter of the year, but this increased to R46.7 billion.
The Daily Maverick reported after the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) that the number of people who earned above a million rand was only 10,000 between 2013 to 2014. More than 55,000 public servants earn more than R1 million as of the 2023/24 financial year.
The Western Cape Premier, Alan Winde, said that he was not happy with the disclosures made by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana in the MTBPS, and the impact of the wage bill on government spending.
“I am deeply disappointed in the MTBPS. Our finances are already under pressure. We simply cannot absorb the agreed increases to the public service wage bill. It is our duty, as it is national government’s - to protect frontline services at all costs! The needs of our citizens are of utmost importance.”
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