A series of written parliamentary questions put by the DA to economic development, environmental affairs and tourism MEC Nonkqubela Pieters last week produced astounding information on just how much CEOs of this province’s state-owned enterprises earn.
The salaries ranged from R2.9m for the CEO of the Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency to more than R5.3m for the CEO of the Coega Development Corporation. Such competitive salaries should attract the best of the best and these SOEs should be run smoothly, efficiently and with the initiative and flair expected of good leaders.
Instead, few of them perform as they should and the province remains underdeveloped despite its enormous potential for tourism, agriculture, shipping, fishing and other industries.
The Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency CEO’s salary is more than the entire operational budget for the Green Scorpions. No small wonder then that rhino and other poaching is on the increase
Coega is arguably one of the better run SOES And yet its former CEO Khwezi Tiya earned his salary of R5.3m over 2023/2024 while sitting at home for some 15 months suspended on full pay after doing what many considered a credible job.
Finally, in December last year 15 months and more than R5m in salary later, the CDC announced its decision to dismiss Tiya. While acknowledging its duty towards “transparency, integrity and accountability” it never even hinted as to the reason for the dismissal.
CDC chair Dr Luvuyo Bono has subsequently acknowledged that the Coega special economic zone (SEZ) is now falling short of expectations.
And then there is the Eastern Cape Development Corporation, whose CEO earns about R3.4m a year. Too often one reads of this corporation’s failed projects, its inability to manage its rental portfolio and its absurd decisions on spending such as the R53m it spent renovating 46 flats in Gcuwa (Butterworth). In other words, its renovation costs per flat was R1.1m in a town where a four-bedroomed free-standing home reportedly cost R850,000.
The Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency, whose CEO earns R2.9m a year, annually bemoans that its budget is inadequate for it to function optimally. In fact, the CEO’s salary is more than the entire operational budget for the Green Scorpions, responsible for policing our reserves. That operational budget last year was just R1.6m. No small wonder that rhino and other poaching is on the increase.
Eastern Cape Gambling Board CEO Mabutho Zwane, reportedly earned a whopping R4.8m last year. His sterling contribution to the gambling economy of the province was to defy trade, industry and competition minister Parks Tau’s direct order to take the blood sport of cockfighting off the gambling books, as it violated both the National Gambling Act and the Animals Protection Act.
There has to be a better way of linking executive salaries to developmental outcomes of these SOES
Otherwise, this province is simply wasting money that could be better spent on actual progress.
Daily Dispatch
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