Group chairmen's salary packages Hefty salary bills ‘well deserved’ Thembela Sofisa (7½ months) R22 500 + R7 537 for travel LEONARD NEILL THE EASTERN Cape Development Corporation (ECDC) is in the red. It has posted a big loss for the past financial year, the first time in its history it has failed to churn out profits. But while opposition political parties in the province have condemned the financial report, economic affairs MEC Andre de Wet says he is satisfied with the situation. “I would prefer the organisation not to show a loss, but by the same token it should not be profit-driven,” he says. Payments to officials have, however, come under the critical spotlight. Remuneration of group chairmen – three of them in the past 18 months – has been severely questioned Thembela Sofisa occupied the post for seven-and-a-half months before he and other board members resigned on November 17 last year. He was paid a total of R22 500 for that period plus R7 551 in travel and reimbursements. Naledi Burwana-Busiwe took over for two-and-a-half months and collected a total of R72 700 – more than three times what Sofisa received for a third of the time in office – plus R1 440 in reimbursements. Current chairman Ronnie Mopp, who took up his post on February 1 this year, was paid R75 000 for the two months up to the closing of books for the financial year. In addition he received R22 842 in travel and other outlaid costs. It all ended up with the ECDC showing a loss of R10,5-million for the financial year. During the 2003/4 financial year the ECDC showed a profit of R31‑million. Nonplussed, De Wet has stated that individuals deserved recognition for straightening out the situation after last year’s upheavals, he said.
