Cosatu criticises Western Cape's 3.8% salary increase for public office bearers

Cosatu has taken aim at the government’s decision to implement a 3.8% salary increase for politicians in 2026, warning that the move sends a damaging signal to South Africans already grappling with rising taxes, pressure on household budgets and uneven service delivery.

In a statement, the Congress of South African Trade Unions said it was “dismayed by the now gazetted 2026 3.8% salary increase for Members of Parliament, Provincial Legislatures and Municipal Councils”, arguing that the adjustment was out of step with the country’s economic reality.

Cosatu said it was particularly frustrated that government had only marginally reduced the increase from the 4.1% recommended by the Independent Commission for the Remuneration of Public Office Bearers. “We believe that this hike for the already very generous packages for public representatives sends an ill-considered message to an increasingly frustrated society of a political elite that is dangerously out of touch with the lived realities of ordinary South Africans,” the federation said.

The union federation said the decision was indefensible given recent warnings from government itself. “It is beyond shameful that in the financial year when Cabinet said the state did not have money to fulfil its constitutional mandates and thus a 2% VAT hike was unavoidable, that government has endorsed this tone-deaf proposal,” Cosatu said. It added that the move came just months after Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana warned that further tax hikes could be necessary in 2026.

Cosatu said it defied logic that government had “found an additional R536 million to fund the salaries of politicians, commissioners and judges”, while many South Africans were being asked to tighten their belts. While it said it supported adjustments for magistrates, citing the need to retain skilled professionals and prevent a brain drain from an overstretched justice system, it rejected any justification for increases for politicians.

The criticism has particular resonance in the Western Cape following the provincial legislature’s approval of a remuneration package of up to R2.6 million a year for Premier Alan Winde, in line with a presidential determination published in the Government Gazette. The determination sets national ceilings for public office bearers and reflects the same 3.8% increase now under fire from Cosatu. While provinces are not compelled to pay the maximum amounts, they are legally barred from exceeding them.

Under the determination, premiers may earn up to R2 635,562 a year, with members of executive councils and provincial speakers capped at R2 306,044. Ordinary members of provincial legislatures may earn up to R1 284,135, while MPs and permanent NCOP delegates may earn up to R1 322,968 a year. These total packages comprise a basic pensionable salary, allowances, an employer pension contribution and a flexible component, all adjusted upward by 3.8% for the 2025/26 financial year..

Parliament has previously pushed back against claims that salary adjustments for public office bearers are “tone-deaf”, arguing that published figures reflect total remuneration packages rather than take-home pay. In a 2022 clarification, it said MPs’ packages include pension contributions and allowances, with deductions such as PAYE tax, medical aid and party levies reducing net income, and stressed that politicians do not determine their own salaries, which are set through an independent process.

Cosatu said the increase reinforced perceptions of a political elite disconnected from the pressures facing working-class communities. “Public representatives need to lead by example with humility,” the federation said, pointing to the failure to adjust income tax brackets for inflation for two consecutive years and the lack of inflation-linked increases to the SRD grant in most of the past five years.

The union federation reserved sharp criticism for the inclusion of more than 9,300 municipal councillors in the increase. “Most galling is the inclusion of the 9 331 local government councillors under whose watch the state of municipal finances and services has deteriorated at an alarming rate,” Cosatu said, noting that some municipalities were unable to pay workers’ salaries, pensions and medical aid contributions.

Calling for changes to the remuneration process, Cosatu said it was “long overdue” for proposals to be opened to public comment and for future increases to be linked to performance. “These funds are workers’ hard-earned taxes,” the federation said, adding that there could be “no justification whatsoever for politicians to receive an increase” in the current economic climate.

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