‘We don’t have facts before us’: Parliament to investigate Xolile George’s R1.8m salary hike

Parliament is gearing to initiate steps to investigate the salary increase of its secretary, Xolile George.

It emerged last month that George reportedly earns R4.4 million a year despite the position of the Secretary to Parliament being priced at a maximum of R2.6 million.

According to Sunday Times, National Assembly speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and National Council of Provinces (NCOP) chair Amos Masondo approved George’s increase of almost 70% and then misled Parliament regarding his salary.

Parliament, however, defended the hiking of George’s annual earnings by almost 70%, a year into the job, saying the decision to review his salary was not taken lightly and was “in line with longstanding practices”.

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The national legislature argued that the salary increase was based on the recommendations of an impartial expert assessment conducted by a remuneration consultancy firm.

It indicated that Mapisa-Nqakula and Masondo also considered “the prevailing socio-economic conditions in the country” hence George’s reviewed remuneration package was set 26% below what he earned in his previous position as chief executive officer (CEO) of the South African Local Government Association (Salga), where he was paid more than R5 million a year.

The salary increase led to calls from the Democratic Alliance (DA) for Parliament to investigate its presiding officers.

Initiator appointment

On Friday, the Powers and Privileges Committee was informed that Deputy Speaker, Lechesa Tsenoli has referred the DA’s request for Mapisa-Nqakula to be investigated for contempt of Parliament.

“The first step of the investigation is the appointment of an initiator. The decision, therefore, for the committee is to mandate parliamentary administration, especially legal services, to procure an initiator,” the committee’s secretary, Mxolisi Toti, said.

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The committee’s chairperson, Violet Siwela, indicated that it would follow the correct procedure on the matter.

“We will allow our legal gurus in Parliament to appoint the initiator. Ours is to give permission to them to follow the right process, because we don’t have facts before us.

“When I read the letter, the allegations are from a newspaper, so to be able to deal with this matter, let us follow the appropriate procedure, which is the appointment of an initiator who will proceed with the matter on our behalf,” Siwela told MPs.

‘Backroom deals’

The DA previously alleged that Mapisa-Nqakula and Masondo breached “their oath of office and the betrayal of the principles of transparency and accountability” over George’s salary hike.

“There are glaring breaches of their code of conduct, code of ethics for members of the executive authority and their responsibility for the financial management of Parliament by both Mapisa-Nqakula and Masondo.

“More importantly, they have violated the trust that is placed on them to act in the best financial interest of an institution that is battling to fulfil its constitutional obligations due to tight financial constraints,” DA chief whip, Siviwe Gwarube said in a statement.

Gwarube said the presidening officers “clearly interfered” with the oversight function of MPs by “secretly” negotiating the R1.8 million increase despite the National Assembly initially approving R2.6 million.

“Additionally, should the position have been openly advertised without any backroom deals, Parliament could have attracted a wider pool of candidates. Hiking the salary three months after the appointment suggests that this was a deal cooked to mislead Parliament and pay George over R4 million,” she added.

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