3.8% SALARY INCREASES FOR MPs WHILE SOUTH AFRICANS GO HUNGRY IS AN INSULT TO THE POOR
Doer Tsakane Manganyi
UAT Head of Communication
By Doer Tsakane Manganyi
UAT Head of Communications
The approval of a 3.8% salary increase for Members of Parliament, effective 1 April, is a blatant insult to millions of South Africans who are living with hunger, unemployment, and collapsing public services.
This decision, taken while communities are queuing for food parcels and children are going to school hungry, exposes a political leadership completely detached from the lived realities of the people.
South Africa is facing a deep social crisis.
Food prices continue to rise, unemployment remains staggeringly high, and poverty has become normalised.
Yet, instead of tightening their belts in solidarity with the people they claim to represent, Members of Parliament, already earning excessive salaries far above the national average and cushioned by allowances, benefits, and privileges, have awarded themselves another increase.
The critical question must be asked: what are these huge salaries actually payed for?
Parliament has failed to act as a credible watchdog over the Executive.
Corruption scandals come and go with little consequence.
State institutions continue to weaken. Service delivery protests erupt daily across the country because water does not run, electricity is unreliable, clinics are understaffed, and schools are under-resourced.
MPs are frequently absent,accountability is rare, and the people’s cries are routinely ignored.
To reward this level of underperformance with a 3.8% salary increase is not only unjustifiable, it is an act of political arrogance.
It sends a clear message that those in power are rewarded regardless of failure, while ordinary South Africans are told to endure suffering with patience and dignity.
At a time when the nation is being asked to accept austerity, job losses, and budget cuts, the political elite continue to protect their own comfort.
This widening gap between leaders and the people is dangerous and unsustainable.
True leadership is measured by sacrifice, service, and accountability, not by how well politicians can secure increases for themselves while the country starves.
South Africans deserve representatives who serve the people, not themselves.
United Africans Transformation ( UAT) reject these salary increases and call for an immediate reversal.
Until Parliament delivers real oversight, real accountability, and real improvements in the lives of the people, there is no moral, political, or economic justification for increasing MPs’ salaries.