MyJHB

Stuff from Johannesburg

Ekurhuleni Metro Police VIP Unit officers earn over R81 000 per month

Dear Johannesburg

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng is shocked to learn that the Ekurhuleni Metro Police (EMPD)VIP Unit officers earn more than R81 000 per month.

This was revealed by the Ekurhuleni MMC for Community Safety, Cllr Frans Mmoko in a written reply to the DA’s questions tabled in the Ekurhuleni Council.

According to MMC Mmoko, the annual salary scale for the EMPD VIP Unit officers ranges from R323 988,00 to R444 468,00 (Ekurhuleni Classic Level-C10).

The MMC states that the EMPD VIP Unit officers do not get paid overtime at all as they are paid a fixed allowance in lieu of overtime of 10 percent based on their annual salary.

This clearly means that a VIP officer who earns R444 468,00 per annum has a fixed gross salary of R37 039,00 plus 10 percent allowance which is R44 446,8 which equates to a total gross salary of R81 485,80.

The DA is in possession of an EMPD VIP Unit officer payslip which shows two salaries, the fixed salary of R37039,00 and two amounts of R37039,00 which equates to earnings of R81 485,80 per month.

The VIP officer who earns a R323 988 annual salary has a fixed gross salary of R26 999 plus 10 percent of their annual salary which is R32 398,8 which equates to a total gross salary of R59 397,8.

The money paid to the EMPD VIP Unit officers is ridiculous considering that the entire EMPD is under resourced.

It is deeply disappointing that the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality is prioritizing spending on the EMPD VIP Unit while there are not enough EMPD fleets to ensure police visibility and the safety of Ekurhuleni residents on the roads.

Furthermore, the Ekurhuleni MMC for Human Settlements, Lesiba Mpya has nine VIP protection officers which is more than both the Mayor and the City Manager who both have six VIP protection officers each. Other MMCs have between three and four VIP protection officers while the Speaker has three VIP protection officers; the Chief Whip has two VIP protection officers; the Chief of Police has two VIP protection officers and both the Chief Financial Officer and the Chairperson of MPAC each have one VIP protection officers.

There is no explanation as to why Mpya has nine VIP protection officers. In the case of a safety risk the risk assessment must be done by the SAPS for any Councillor.

It is worrying that Ekurhuleni is unable to pay the staff salary increases and have opted to divide the salary increase into two phases, yet they continue to pay skyrocketing salaries for VIP protection officers for politicians and senior management.

The DA calls on the Gauteng MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), Lebogang Maile to provide clarity with regards to the number of VIP protection Unit allocated to MMCs in Ekurhuleni as well as the 10 percent fixed allowances for the EMPD VIP Unit.

Regards

Michael Shackleton MPL
DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Community Safety

Category: Tag:

Top Star Drive-In: The Cinema on the Mountain of Gold

The Ferreira Dump began growing in the late 1800s, composed of the crushed rock and chemical residue left over after early, inefficient mining processes had extracted as much gold as the technology of the time allowed. By the 1960s, it was a flat-topped, man-made mesa overlooking the city. In a stroke of entrepreneurial genius, the surface was tarred and the Top Star Drive-In was opened. It quickly became a South African institution. Its appeal was not just the movies, but the unparalleled view: as the sun set, the massive white screen would flicker to life against a backdrop of the glowing skyscrapers of the Central Business District, separated from the viewer only by the elevated M2 highway.

In the decades before television arrived in South Africa (1976), the Top Star was a primary social hub. It was a democratic space in an undemocratic time; while the city below was strictly segregated, the “car” served as a private bubble that allowed a degree of social freedom not found in traditional theaters. For many Johannesburgers, the Top Star was a site of nostalgic rites of passage—first dates, family outings where children were piled into the back of station wagons with blankets and flasks of tea, and the Saturday “car market” where the parking lot transformed into a sprawling hub for buying and selling second-hand vehicles.