Ever wondered who the best-paid government employees in South Africa are? This article is about to give you a glimpse of who the best paid public servants by departments are.
In South Africa, the government does not play a direct role in the economy, its main role in the economy is to encourage economic growth. For example, the government does not own big factories or mines to earn an income. It only partly owns big corporations like Eskom and Telkom. The money earned from such companies is put back into the economy and the government also makes money through taxation.
But the biggest question is “how is this money spent?”.
Working for the government has its own benefits depending on the role or position you are in. If you are one of the curious South Africans who wonder who the highest-paid government employees are, we are about to enlighten you.
In South Africa, government salary levels are categorized according to the job level a person is in. In some fields, government employees receive higher salaries compared to other employees who don’t work for the state.
Additionally, government workers receive benefits that include medical cover, housing, and transport, with all expenses being catered for by the government. These salary levels differ from informal sector workers who struggle to earn a living.
The largest group of government employees are found between salary levels 5 and 9, which are earnings of R283 227 to R567 956 per annum.
South African Best Paid Government Employees
In no order, the following is the list of the best-paid government employees in South Africa by sector.
Finance and Accounting
- Chief Finance Officer’s annual salary is an average of R4, 000,000
- A financial director’s yearly salary is R3, 000,000
- Finance manager earns up to R1, 200,000
- A Standard financial accountant earns an annual salary of R475, 000
Information Technology
- A Chief Information Officer has an annual salary of R1,700,000
- IT manager makes R1, 200,000 annually
- An application developer earns up to R900, 000
- A senior IT Business Analyst has a yearly salary of R750, 000
Engineering and Manufacturing
- Factory or plant manager has an annual salary of R1,200,000
- Quality engineer has a yearly salary worth R600, 000
- Project engineer earns R700, 000
- Project director earns R1,700,000
Legal
- Junior counsel’s annual income is R600, 000
- General counsel makes up to R2, 250,000
- Legal counsel earns R850, 000
- Senior legal counsel’s yearly income is R1, 250,000
Doctors
- Doctors in South Africa earn approximately R72,800 per month
Police
- Police officers in South Africa earn a maximum of R12,427 per month
Nurses
- Nurses earn approximately R16,786 per month
Members of Parliament
- Members of Parliament in South Africa receive good pay, they are paid R1 million a year which is a monthly salary of R133, 372
Teachers
- The government teacher’s salary is approximately R21, 983 per month
Other Government employees receive subsidies for the salary levels as follows:
- Employees in levels 1 to 5 will enjoy an R1, 220 allowance
- Levels 6 and 7 will enjoy an R1, 352 allowance
- Levels 8 and 9 will receive an R1, 450 allowance
- Levels 10 and 11 will earn an R1,640 allowance
- Level 12 will earn an R1, 695 allowance
For further reading, you can visit the National Treasury as they are responsible for managing South Africa’s national government finances.