The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has sharply criticised the 3.5% salary increment of members of Parliament, including provincial legislatures and councillors, saying it sends an ill-considered message to the citizens.
Cosatu, however, says it supports the 4% salary increase for magistrates given that they are skilled professionals and measures are needed to retain them to avoid a brain drain.
Cosatus Parliamentary Coordinator Matthew Parks says it surprising that government would increase salaries for municipal councils while services and municipal finances continue to deteriorate.
“It makes no sense when government routinely says it does not have enough money to fund core constitutional mandates, yet it has found half a billion rand for an increase of politicians. It makes no sense when governors cut back on public employment programmes despite 13 million people struggling to find work. It makes no sense when municipal workers have often not been paid their salaries, have not been paid for months at a time, medical aids defaulted by their employers.”
The salary hike for public representatives by President @CyrilRamaphosa remains excessive &sends an ill-considered message to an increasingly frustrated public of a political elite that is dangerously out of touch with the lived realities of ordinary South Africans, says #COSATU https://t.co/pO7bnaDIjn
— @COSATU Today (@_cosatu) November 10, 2026