Question NW968 to the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs
10 May 2016 - NW968
Horn, Mr W to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs
With reference to Section 139 (1)(b) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, intervention in the Makana Local Municipality in the Eastern Cape, (a) what was the total cost to the Department for (i) the services of a certain person (Ms Pam Yako) and (ii) her replacement and (b) what are the full details of the specified costs in each case and (c) what is the current legal status of the intervention in terms of Section 139 (1)(b) in the specified municipality?
Reply:
According to the information provided by the Eastern Cape Department of Local Government and Traditional Affairs:
a) (i) The total cost to the Department of Local Government and Traditional Affairs in the Eastern Cape for the services of Ms Pam Yako, who was the Administrator in the municipality for a total period of nine months, was R3 089 928 .96.
(ii) Her replacement, a Senior Manager in the employ of the same department, was (and still is) remunerated at the normal level applicable to public servants at senior managerial level (Salary Level 13), because he is currently performing his functions in the municipality on secondment by the department.
b) According to the information we received from the abovementioned department, Ms Yako was paid an amount of R2 014 133. 76 for the first six months of her contract in the municipality. The payment was for work performed for four days per week for the first three months, each day calculated at eight hours at the DPSA rate of R2 568 per hour. It was also for work performed for three days per week for the second three months, each day still calculated at eight hours at the same DPSA rate of R2 568 per hour. Her contract was later extended for a period of three months. For this period (the last three months), she was remunerated at the DPSA rate of R 1 966 per hour for work performed for five days per week, each day constituting eight hours of work as usual, which amounts to R1 075 795. 20. When both amounts are combined, she was paid a total amount of R3 089 928 .96, as already reflected above.
As already stated, Ms Yako’s successor is remunerated at his current salary level (Salary Level 13) applicable to him as an employee of the provincial department occupying a senior managerial post.
c) In respect of the current legal status of the intervention, this intervention is still legal because it was approved by both my predecessor (Minister Pravin Gordhan) and the NCOP, in terms of the provisions of section 139(2) of the Constitution. The approval by Minister Gordhan and the NCOP came after the intervention was reinstated by the Provincial Executive a few weeks after it had been withdrawn following its disapproval by the NCOP.