President Cyril Ramaphosa made an official declaration of the salaries and allowances of traditional leaders and members of traditional houses for the year 2024.
Based on the recommendations by the Independent Commission for Remuneration of Public Office Bearers, traditional leaders and members of traditional houses will receive a 2.5% remuneration increase. Taking the king or queen’s salary up to just under R1.4 million a year.
According to BusinessTech, the salaries apply to a range of roles including both full and part time positions in both the National House of Traditional Leaders (NHTL) and Provincial House of Traditional Leaders (PHTL).
The annual salary for the king/queen as at 2024 is R1,388,764.
For the principal traditional leader: R1,277,668.
For the NHTL chairperson and the PHTL full-time chairperson, the salaries are, R1,045,305 and R860,954, respectively.
The full-time deputy chairperson of the NHTL will be earning R799,501, while the full-time deputy chairperson of the PHTL will be earning R737,838.
The full-time members of the NHTL and the PHTL will earn R464,945 and R398,562 respectively.
Lastly, the senior traditional leader will earn R303,647 and the headmen/headwomen will earn R130,394.
In addition to their salaries as traditional leaders, part time members will also be receiving sitting allowances ranging from R1,415 to R2,028 per sitting, along with payment for subsistence costs, transport costs and for their attendance to official meetings, seminars, workshops and conferences.
Traditional leaders are symbolic figureheads that play significant roles within their communities, mostly in the strategy for rural development, as well as in the broader governance framework of the country.
They are also allowed to enter into partnerships and service delivery agreements with the government in all three spheres.