Cogta’s financial dilemma

SECRETARIES who are employed on a full-time basis to work in traditional courts perform a vital function, and deserve to be paid a fair salary.

They are the engines of traditional courts and without their presence, this institution will fail to settle disputes in rural communities.

It is completely unacceptable that secretaries earn a monthly stipend of R1 600 when they work an eight-hour day, five days a week.

Like other government employees, they are entitled to demand a salary of R12 500 a month, after all, traditional courts cannot function without them. However, it is not that simple. Court secretaries in traditional courts are under the leadership of the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, headed by MEC Nomusa Dube-Ncube.

This department has just allocated R252 million for the payment of izinduna’s salaries for the current financial year.

The secretaries, under the banner of KZN Traditional Council Secretariesm represents about 365 employees across 11 provincial districts. This means Dube-Ncube’s department would have to find an extra R4.5m a month for salaries.

Where is this money going to come from, when the fiscus is quickly running out of money to rescue departments?

It must be remembered that the money to pay izinduna had to be sourced from other departments, including the cashstrapped departments of Health and Basic Education.

It is clear that Cogta has got no idea how they are going to extricate themselves from this predicament.

This situation is not sustainable, and the already hardpressed department is going to face another financial headache.

The decision to pay izinduna needs to be revisited as it was approved for political expediency.

Secretaries, on the other hand, might not have the same political backing but they perform a vital service and should be compensated accordingly.

Cogta this week asked for more time to investigate the matter before making a comment.

They cannot keep quite in the hope that the matter is going to go away.

The controversy involving izinduna should have taught them that such issues never go away.

What is clear though is that in the current financial climate, where the economy is barely growing, we cannot afford to spend millions of rand on salaries.

This is money we just don’t have.