Cape Town - The appointment of Xolile George as the Secretary to Parliament has finally been approved by both Houses.
This is despite the objection of the EFF, DA and Freedom Front Plus on Wednesday.
The appointment of George, who is the CEO of the South African Local Government Association (Salga), was expected to take place last Wednesday but it had to be shelved.
This was after a meeting between Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and leaders of political parties.
But it was back on the programme of Parliament, when both the National Assembly and National Council of Provinces approved it.
Political parties expressed concern about the salary George would receive, saying it has not been clarified.
The DA said while at Salga, George earned R5.8 million a year, but the position of secretary to parliament has a package of R2.5m.
The EFF also said they did not support George’s appointment as they were not aware how much he would earn.
IFP chief whip Narend Singh said they had received assurances from Mapisa-Nqakula that the salary will be in line with what was advertised.
“It is public knowledge that Mr George has taken a cut in his salary for this position and it should be noted and appreciated that he has accepted the position of service to the nation over market-related salary expectations. However, we expect assurances from the Speaker that there will be no special treatment of salary adjustments related to this role. We will monitor it very closely in the joint standing committee,” said Singh.
Nqabayomzi Kwankwa of the UDM said there was a panel that interviewed George and it agreed to his appointment.
He said they needed to monitor that George’s salary is in line with the one advertised for the position.
There should be no deviation of the current package of the secretary to Parliament, he said.
Shaik Emam of the National Freedom Party said they have been given assurances that his salary will not be outside the structure that has been approved by Parliament.
ANC member Bheki Radebe said they welcomed the appointment of George and they hoped he would stabilise the institution. He said George was coming at the time Parliament was recovering from the fire that caused extensive damage.
Parliament had not had a full-time secretary to Parliament for the last five years after Gengezi Mgidlana was initially suspended in 2017 for misconduct charges and was fired in 2019.
siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.,za
Political Bureau