The department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) has disclosed how much mayors earn in salaries with Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma confirming the wage freeze for senior municipal workers on Tuesday 2, November.

The information was communicated after Dlamini-Zuma announced a 0% cost of living adjustment for the 2020/2021 financial year. In other words, April 2020’s wages will remain unchanged for top municipal employees.

While there are approximately 9,000 councilors in Mzansi’s 278 municipalities, the data below reflects payments for mayors’ salaries, their deputies, speakers, mayoral committee members, executives, executives of sub councils, as well as whips.

As explained by Business Tech, workers in municipal offices are compensated based on a points and grade system. The variables include municipal income and the given municipality’s population.

In large and highly-populated areas such as Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban, the top municipal workers can take home payments as steep as R1.4 million a year, while the workers in smaller municipalities only earn as high as R782,000 per year.

See the salaries of mayors and other top municipal workers below:

As with any job opportunity, especially in public office, additional compensation benefits put a smile on the face of the beneficiary.

Top municipal workers enjoy more than decent motor vehicle and travel allowance, out of pocket expense, upper limits of cell phone allowance for councillors for up to R3,400 per month, data bundles with a maximum of R300 per month and special risk cover.