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Overview

History of the Commission

In 1985, the Parliament of the time established a Commission, known as the Schlebusch Commission of Inquiry, to inquire into the structure of the remuneration and conditions of service of the then State President, Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Members of Parliament and members of the President's Council. As a result of the continuous need for adjustments to the remuneration and conditions of service of those members, the Melamet Commission was appointed to establish a consistent and coherent remuneration structure for national and provincial legislatures.

Section 207 of the Interim Constitution of 1993 promulgated a Commission to make recommendations to Parliament, the provincial legislatures and local governments regarding the nature, extent and conditions of the remuneration and allowances of the members of all elected legislative bodies of the national, provincial and local governments, and members of provincial houses and the Council of Traditional Leaders. The Commission on Remuneration of Representatives was therefore instituted in terms of the Commission on Remuneration of Representatives Act, 1994 (Act 37 of 1994), which Commission functioned from 21 April 1995 to 05 April 1998. The first Chairperson of this Commission was Justice HW Levy, who was succeeded from 06 March 1996 by Justice JH Steyn.

With the promulgation of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, (Act 108 of 1996), Section 219 thereof prescribed that an Act of Parliament should establish a framework for determining the salaries, allowances and benefits, or upper limits thereof, as the case may be, of certain public office bearer positions. As a consequence, the Independent Commission for the Remuneration of Public Office Bearers Act, 1997 (Act 92 of 1997), established the current Commission to make recommendations concerning the salaries, allowances and benefits of defined office-bearers. The first Chairperson appointed in terms of this Act was Justice JH Steyn (21 August 1998 to 30 April 2000), succeeded by Justice RJ Goldstone (10 May 2000 to 31 March 2004), succeeded by Deputy Chief Justice DE Moseneke (01 April 2004 to 31 March 2009), succeeded Judge LW Seriti (01 September 2009 to 31 August 2014), succeeded by the current Chairperson Judge CJ Musi (10 October 2014 to date).

The Commission's Mandate

The Commission obtains its mandate mainly from:

• The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Act 108 of 1996
• The Independent Commission for the Remuneration of Public Office Bearers Act, Act 92 of 1997
• The Remuneration of Public Office Bearers Act, Act 20 of 1998

Section 219 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, (Act 108 of 1996) stipulates that an Act of Parliament must establish a framework for determining the salaries, allowances and benefits, or the upper limits thereof, as the case may be, of public office bearers. It further stipulates that national legislation must establish an independent commission to make recommendations concerning the above salaries, allowances and benefits.

Pursuant to the provisions of Section 219 of the Constitution, 1996, the Independent Commission for the Remuneration of Public Office-Bearers Act, 1997 (Act No. 92 of 1997) (hereafter referred to as the Commission Act) was enacted, which, amongst other things established this Commission.

In terms of Section 8(4) of the Commission Act, the Commission shall, after taking into consideration the factors referred to in subsection (6), publish annually in the Gazette recommendations concerning:-

• the salaries, benefits and allowances of any office-bearer, as defined in section 1 (a), (d) and (e) of the Commission Act;
• the upper limits of the salaries, benefits and allowances of any office-bearer as defined in section 1 (b) and (c) of the Commission Act, and
• the resources which are necessary to enable an office-bearer, as defined in section 1 (a), (b), (c) and (e) of the Commission Act, to perform the office-bearer's functions effectively.

In terms of Section 1 of the Commission Act, as amended by section 7 of the Judicial Officers (Amendment of Conditions of Service) Act, No. 28 of 2003, 'office-bearer' means-

a) any Member of the Cabinet, any Deputy Minister, any member of the National Assembly, and any permanent delegate to the National Council of Provinces;
b) any Member of the Executive Council of a Province or any Member of any Provincial Legislature;
c) any Member of any Municipal Council of any category or type of municipality;
d) any person holding the office of-

Table 1: Legislative framework Governance The Commission Act, 1997, regulates the operations and governance of the Commission to a very large extent. The Act determines, amongst others, how the Commission is constituted, the terms of office of members of the Commission, meeting and reporting requirements of the Commission, as well as specific functions and the administration of the Commission. The functions of the Commission are set out fully in the Act, and include:

• the powers and duties conferred to the Commission by section 219 the Constitution, 1996;
• conducting inquiries into any statutorily authorized matter;
• conducting research, or causing research to be conducted as may be necessary for the performance of the functions of the Commission;
• publishing annual recommendations concerning salaries, allowances and benefits of all public office bearers, and resources necessary to enable an office-bearer to perform his or her functions effectively;
• publishing an Annual Report on its activities.

In accordance with Section 3 of the Commission Act, as amended by section 8 of the Judicial Officers (Amendment of Conditions of Service) Act, 2003 (Act No. 28 of 2008) (hereinafter referred to as the Judicial Officers Act), the President appointed the members indicated in Table 2 below to serve on the Commission for the periods indicated against their names.

Table 2: Composition of Commission

The Commission is assisted in its task by a full time Secretariat consisting of officials on the establishment of The Presidency. The Secretariat structure and the members staffed therein are as depicted here