By Sihle Mavuso
If the Ingonyama Trust Board’s remuneration policy gets the go-ahead, the chief executive officer, advocate Vela Mngwengwe, and two senior managers, Sandile Gabela and Thembeka Ndlovu, will each receive over R1-million.
Gabela is the performance monitoring and evaluation manager while Ndlovu is the head of land tenure management services.
An internal memo dated 10 September requests approval of the revised policy and payment of the fees. It was sent from the acting chief financial officer (CFO), Siyamdumisa Vilakazi, to the head of corporate support services.
The memo said during the recalculation of salaries for senior managers, prompted by a complaint that Ndlovu was being under-remunerated, it was discovered that a bonus equivalent to one-twelfth of the monthly basic salary had not been paid to Gabela and Mngwengwe since their appointments.
Among the causes was how payslips were generated, which did not provide a clear breakdown of income, such as basic salary, a 30% cash benefit, allowances and a 13th cheque.
This resulted in the total cost to company salary for all officials being reflected as part of the basic salary.
Vilakazi then requested a review.
“Our preliminary calculations show that the total amount due is R1,006,931.99 before PAYE [pay as you earn] deductions to the concerned senior managers. It is recommended that this matter be addressed by HRM [human resource management], as it pertains to the HRM policy. Finance is not in a position to implement changes without a directive from HRM,” he wrote.
“We note that inconsistent application of the policy is currently in place and needs to be regularised, either by excluding all senior managers (this will result in staff debt for those payments already made) or by including the previously excluded individuals, Mr Mngwengwe and Mr Gabela (which results in a debt owing to said senior managers),” Vilakazi recommended.
In October last year, the Ingonyama Trust paid R3.1-million in cost-of-living adjustments for its senior managers.
Ingonyama Trust Board spokesperson Simphiwe Mxakaza denied that the three’s remuneration was being reviewed, despite Scrolla.Africa having a copy of the CFO’s memo.
Pictured above: The Ingonyama Trust Board.
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