Johannesburg - The size of the City of Joburg’s council will be increased after the local government elections next year, adding a significant burden to the city’s wage bill.
This comes after a review of boundaries and the merger of municipalities in Gauteng determined that Joburg – the largest metro, with 130 ward councillors directly elected – would significantly increase its wards, resulting in the addition of a further 10 councillors from the current 270.
The details are contained in the notice published in the Government Gazette this week by the Municipal Demarcation Board.
The board also indicated the new ward numbers, voting districts and voting stations in each ward, and the number of voters.
The public has been given 14 days to object to the new boundaries in writing, if aggrieved by them. According to the notice, the City of Tshwane will increase its councillors from 210 to 214, with Ekurhuleni’s growing from 202 to 229. New municipalities Midvaal/Emfuleni will have 100 councillors.
The West Rand District Municipality will have 44 seats, Mogale City, 77 seats and the Merafong City Local Municipality, 55 councillors.
The greater number of councillors will also increase the municipalities’ wage bill. Excluding car allowances and other perks, full-time councillors earn a package of between R401 866 and R798 069 a year, depending on the type of municipality they serve.
Their part-time counterparts earn between R119 000 and R253 000 a year, excluding car allowances.
In June, the South African Local Government Association demanded that municipal councillors be paid the same pay as members of parliament, R1.3 million a year.
The councillors reportedly argued that they had comparable responsibilities.
Gauteng local government has said the department was of the view that service delivery would be compromised if the number of wards and were reduced.
Spokesman Motsamai Motlhaolwa said that service delivery protests increased in proportion with the size of the wards.
“At present,” he said, “councillors find it challenging to communicate with their constituencies.
“This will be exacerbated if the number of councillors is reduced while ward sizes are increased.”
Saturday Star