Parliament has recommended that the Auditor General Terence Nombembe's salary be increased from 1,708,600 rand to 2,650,000 rand, retrospective from 01 December 2006.
The recommendation was made in a report tabled on Monday by Parliament's Committee on The Auditor General and President Jacob Zuma will have to sign the salary increase into effect.
The committee said in its report that Nombembe was appointed in October 2006 and that the conditions were his salary would be similar to those who were appointed to the top echelons of the judiciary.
Salary and compensation levels for the high-ranking public service officials were being reviewed by Parliament.
It said that while the Chief Justice's salary had been reviewed and increased, Nombembe's had not. It added that the Auditor General's role was to advise Parliament and, in turn, the legislature's role was to ensure that his office was properly protected and effective in its role.
The commission also pointed out that Nombembe was not entitled to a performance bonus.
It recommended that the salary increase raise the termination benefit from 10% of the average term compensation for each year of service to 50% of average term compensation for each year of service.
“This will compensate for the differences in the remuneration package of the Auditor-General as compared to the remuneration package of the Chief Justice,” the Committee's report said.
The report also said that its recommendations were in line with a benchmarking exercise conducted by actuarial firm Alexander Forbes.
It also recommended that Nombembe's salary adjustment be back-dated to 2006. - I-Net Bridge