Senior managers at South African municipalities may receive cellphone and data allowances of up to R2,500 per month under new remuneration limits.
Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa set the limit as part of rules governing remuneration packages for municipal managers and officials who report directly to them.
The allowance is separate from their annual remuneration packages and must be paid in line with the relevant municipal council’s policy.
It will be processed through the municipality’s electronic payroll system.
Before the national limit was introduced, individual municipalities could determine their own cellphone allowance policies.
Previous allowances varied widely
Municipal policies previously differed significantly.
In 2024, Bitou Local Municipality in the Western Cape allowed cellphone costs of up to R3,600 a month, alongside a data allowance of up to R317.
Midvaal Local Municipality, meanwhile, set a maximum cellphone allowance of R2,500 a month for municipal managers during 2024/25.
Heads of departments could receive up to R2,000, while lower-level qualifying employees had limits starting at R1,000.
Midvaal paid the benefit as an allowance rather than supplying employees with phones or cellphone contracts.
Existing contracts protected
The new national rules provide an upper limit rather than an automatic R2,500 payment to every senior manager.
The amount remains subject to each municipality’s approved policy.
Senior managers with existing cellphone and data contracts entered into before the notice was published will not be affected by the new limit.
Government also warned municipalities against paying senior managers remuneration or benefits outside those authorised by the notice.
Such payments may be classified as irregular expenditure and must be recovered from the senior manager involved.
Allowance can cover premium contracts
At R2,500 a month, the allowance is high enough to cover several premium cellphone packages currently marketed by South Africa’s major operators.
MyBroadband identified packages from MTN, Vodacom, Telkom and Cell C costing between roughly R2,100 and R2,230 monthly, some bundled with flagship smartphones.
However, the new government notice does not prescribe which phone, mobile network or contract a municipal manager may choose.
It simply caps the combined cellphone and data allowance at R2,500 per month.