SOUTH AFRICA-POLITICS: EX-HOMELAND BOSSES PAID THEMSELVES WELL

• by IPS Correspondents (pretoria)
• Friday, November 18, 1994
• Inter Press Service

PRETORIA, Nov 18 (IPS) - SOUTH AFRICA'S FORMER HOMELANDS MAY HAVE BEEN TRACTS OF BARREN GROUND TO WHICH APARTHEID RELEGATED BLACKS, BUT LEADERS OF THESE ENCLAVES PAID THEMSELVES SALARIES AND ALLOWANCES THAT WOULD HAVE MADE MANY A PRESIDENT ENVIOUS.

REPORTS PRESENTED IN CAPE TOWN PARLIAMENT SHOW THAT GENERAL BANTU HOLOMISA EARNED 769 512 RAND (ABOUT 220,000 U.S. DOLLARS) A YEAR AS MILITARY HEAD OF THE TRANSKEI HOMELAND.

AS DEPUTY MINISTER OF TOURISM, HE NOW RECEIVES LESS THAN HALF THAT AMOUNT, 240,876 RAND (ABOUT 69,000 DOLLARS) AFTER DEDUCTIONS.

HOLOMISA'S SALARY AS HOMELAND CHIEF WAS ALMOST A QUARTER OF A MILLION RAND (ABOUT 71,500 DOLLARS) MORE THAN PRESIDENT NELSON MANDELA'S.

AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS (ANC) SUPPORTERS RECENTLY CRITICISED THEIR LEADERS FOR WHAT THEY SAW AS THEIR EXCESSIVELY HIGH SALARIES.

THE ISSUE EVEN SPARKED AN ACRIMONIOUS ARGUMENT BETWEEN NOBEL PEACE LAUREATE ARCHBISHOP DESMOND TUTU AND PRESIDENT MANDELA AFTER THE CHURCH LEADER ADDED HIS VOICE TO THE CRITICISM OF "GOVERNMENT EXTRAVAGANCE."

MANDELA AND HIS TWO DEPUTY PRESIDENTS, THABO MBEKI AND FW DE KLERK HAVE SINCE ACCEPTED A 20-PERCENT CUT IN THEIR INCOMES.

MANDELA'S ANNUAL SALARY WILL NOW BE REDUCED FROM THE EQUIVALENT OF ABOUT 164,000 DOLLARS TO SOME 131,000 DOLLARS FROM DEC. 1. HIS ALLOWANCES WILL DECREASE FROM ABOUT 33,000 DOLLARS TO AROUND 26,000 DOLLARS.

BUT HIS INCOME IS MODERATE COMPARED TO THE EARNINGS OF THE LEADERS OF THE FORMER HOMELANDS - SINCE REINCORPORATED INTO SOUTH AFRICA.

FIGURES RELEASED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT SHOW THAT HOLOMISA WAS NOT THE ONLY ONE TO AWARDED HIMSELF HIGH SALARIES AND ALLOWANCES ALTHOUGH THE HOMELAND LEADERS LACKED LEGITIMACY WERE RECOGNISED NO FOREIGN COUNTRY.

HOLOMISA WAS BY FAR THE BEST PAID HOMELAND LEADER. HE WAS FOLLOWED BY VENDA'S BRIGADIER GABRIEL RAMUSHWANA, WHO EARNED THE EQUIVALENT OF ABOUT 143,000 DOLLARS A YEAR, AND KWANDEBELE'S PRINCE JAMES MAHLANGU AT 140,000 DOLLARS.

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