Sars head of IT estimated to earn the average SA monthly salary in two hours

While some have been amused by the incoherent SABC interview that went viral and saw Sars head of IT Mmamathe Makhekhe-Mokhuane become somewhat of a celebrity, or just notorious, others aren’t laughing.

A Facebook post about the amount Makhekhe-Mokhuane earns is currently doing the rounds.

https://www.facebook.com/Sindile.magic.Vabaza/posts/10155602716765964

According to the post by Sindile Vabaza, the woman who went viral for an interview in which she asked her interviewer “Can you give me protection from yourself?” earns more in two hours than what the average South African does in a month.

Makhekhe-Mokhuane has since stayed in the news after her strange answers at the Nugent inquiry into the alleged breakdown of Sars, particularly when she was asked what she meant in her submission to the commission when she referred to the long tenure of Sars employees and spoke about the Drakensberg Boys Choir and when it was formed by way of an answer.

“Drakensberg Boys Choir was established in 1867 and in 2018 girls are still not allowed to sing,” she said, enigmatically.

The Facebook post alleges that Makhekhe-Mokhuane earns R3.06 million a year. This may come from a post by author James Styan in which he says that she “earned R3.06 million for 11 months’ work in 2017/18”.

This public servant earned R3.06 million for 11 months work in 2017/18.

That's R278K per month, roughly R1738 per hour.#SARSInquiry
(p163 of SARS annual report) https://t.co/bbxzLXcaoy

— James Styan (@jamesstyan) October 17, 2018

The figure provided as the average South African’s monthly income, R3,033, is the median wage given by the International Labour Organisation for the country as recorded in 2014/15.

And the figure given for what “the top 5% of income earners in the richest country on earth” earn appears to come from the US Census Bureau, which calculated that in America “the top 5% of households earn an annual income of $214,462”.

While the post has been fairly widely shared, its author in another post said he’s “rather depressed” at how much the post had been shared, as “it reveals that SA is not only a hashtag culture but an outrage culture too”.

That full post can be read below or here.

https://www.facebook.com/Sindile.magic.Vabaza/posts/10155603855320964

And the full original post is as follows:

“Just to give you some context on that lady from Sars in the viral video.

“She makes R3.06 million per year or R278,000 per month or R1,738 per hour.

“Her salary would put her in the top 5% of income earners in the richest country on earth (America at $215,000 per year).

“It takes her less than two hours to make more than the average working class monthly salary (R3,033 per month).

“It takes her about nine hours or a full working day to make the median monthly income in South Africa.

“Her monthly salary alone is better than the yearly income of more than four-fifths of the population.

“It would be one thing if she could actually do her job…”

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