This is really such an interesting one.
Kings demand same allowance with president because they believe kings are equal to the country’s president, who earns more than R2.6-million.
Guess the recent 5% salary adjustment made on chairman of the National House of Traditional Leaders and his counterparts in the various provincial houses of traditional leaders triggered more huge on demand for salaries of senior traditional leaders and headmen.
The R1-million-a-year salary has angered the Congress of Traditional Leaders.
The body’s general secretary, Xolile Ndevu, said yesterday that their salaries were “a disgrace”.
“A headman is the first layer of government. If something happens in a rural community, the one stop where people will report to is the headman. The whole structure of our institution is really undermined.”
Ndevu said the chairman of the National House of Traditional Leaders should be paid as much as the speaker of parliament. In January, when President Jacob Zuma approved pay hikes for senior government officials, the then National Assembly speaker, Max Sisulu, got an annual package of about R2.5-million.
Ndevu said Contralesa and the leadership of the National House of Traditional Leaders would discuss the salary increments before addressing the issue with Zuma.