DA objects to bonus for RAF chief

A Cape Times report quotes the DA's transport spokesperson, Manny de Freitas, as saying the party would challenge Transport Minister S'bu Ndebele, who was responsible for the RAF, and argued Modise did not deserve the bonus or his 'astronomical' salary - a combined R6.617m in 2009/10. De Freitas said the RAF - R42.3bn in the red and with huge backlogs - had not improved its services. 'The salary is absolutely ridiculous and shocking and he (Modise) doesn't deserve it. He gets this much money, including a so-called 13th cheque, which I've never heard of ... but this organisation ... is in trouble and it's completely inefficient.' Full Cape Times report (subscription needed)

More earnings shocks came to light yesterday. The CEO of the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA), Steven Ngubeni, earns as much as Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe - R1.8m a year - while the agency's executive chairperson, Andile Lungisa, gets by on about R790 000 a year and his deputy, Yershen Pillay, earns more than R670 000. A Cape Times report says Minister in the Presidency for Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, Collins Chabane, also revealed in a written reply to a parliamentary question that more than R11m was spent on the salaries of 12 of the agency's operations executive committee members, including Ngubeni. The report notes both Ngubeni, who was appointed in November last year, and Lungisa hold senior positions in the ANC Youth League: they are deputy secretary-general and deputy president respectively. Each of the agency's five non-executive board members earns more than R30 000 a month. According to its annual report for the 2009/10 financial year, the agency met only 15 of the 62 targets it had set itself. Full Cape Times report (subscription needed)