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Confirmed - Secretary to Parliament Xolile George receives an annual salary of R5m

Confirmed - Secretary to Parliament Xolile George receives an annual salary of R5m
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Pauli van Wyk
By Pauli van Wyk
17 May 2024
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Scorpio cuts through Parliament’s obfuscation around Secretary to Parliament Xolile George’s exorbitant salary and allegedly questionable contract negotiations - R5-million is the total annual package George currently receives, Scorpio can confirm.

Secretary to Parliament Xolile George’s package is 92% more than the legal parameters for the position. George was appointed in line with due process on a R2.6-million annual package in June 2022. 

After seven months of heated battles fought in parliamentary corridors over his salary - an allegation strongly denied - George’s package was quietly increased and backdated to an allegedly exorbitant R4.4-million from the date of appointment. 

The package was calculated based on what seems to be a misrepresentation of a remuneration consultancy report and directly in conflict with an earlier decision by the Executive Authority to cap the secretarial salary. Since then, George’s already questionable package increased further to just more than R5-million per year. 

This was thanks to what an independent labour lawyer termed two “highly questionable” salary increases in eight months, sanctioned by union Nehawu. The union has oddly acted as the guardian angel to George, the employer of union members, even before his employment.

Scorpio can further lift the veil around the Secretary’s contract deliberations. When requesting a copy of his contract in June 2022, Members of Parliament were met with opaque explanations, strong assurances and a generic draft. 

Scorpio has seen contradictory evidence that suggests George had a directing hand in writing his own contract. This contract seems weighted in George’s favour as it includes gratuities, perks and stipulations which his predecessors never had, and probably will push upwards his current R5-million package and stands to benefit him greatly when he leaves the position. 

The signing of the contract itself allegedly became a “very toxic” process that pitted parliamentary staff against each other, two parliamentary sources stated - a position based on documents and witnessing George’s contract deliberations. 

Scorpio asked detailed questions of George, NCOP Chair Amos Masondo, former Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and the chief legal adviser to parliament. Mapisa-Nqakula did not answer questions.



Masondo responded to the questions on behalf of all the current parliamentary roleplayers. Masondo “remains resolute that at no point was there any intention to mislead Parliament or to take advantage of Parliament or its stakeholders - including our taxpayers who fund this administration”.

Masondo essentially states that his detailed response shows “there is nothing untoward, unethical or unlawful in what transpired” and that “from the outset, George’s position in respect of remuneration and his expectations were clear. He participated in a valid and lawful negotiating process… supported by precedent and an independent review process…”

We quote Masondo’s answer in the text where applicable, but also publish it here in full: 


Parliament ‘addresses concerns’


Between 2007 and 2022, Xolile George was the CEO of the South African Local Government Association (Salga) - a job with an annual price tag of R5.8-million. Salga’s job is to protect and enforce the rights of the local government sector and, basically, to ensure that the system works so that government can efficiently deliver services. 

By 2022, George’s success in strengthening government, considering its dire state, was a particular point of contention and scorn when MPs were asked to endorse his appointment as the new Secretary to Parliament.

Another point of concern, and a question George was confronted with on numerous occasions, was: Why would you leave a R5.8-million job for the position of Secretary to Parliament, advertised at a salary range of between R2.4-million and R2.6-million a year?

Attending the interview process as an observer, Sthembiso Tembe, who is Nehawu’s Parliament branch chair, remembers George stating that he found the most important attraction of the job “was to serve his national Parliament”. George was Nehawu’s preferred candidate for the job and as recently as 13 May came out batting for him.

MPs and Members of the Provincial Legislature (MPLs) were doubtful. The evasiveness of NCOP Chair Amos Masondo and then Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula around George’s salary and contract, however, became the burning talking point. 

By 1 June 2022, the DA, EFF and Freedom Front Plus officially opposed George’s appointment, which was eventually pushed through by the ANC.  

The rumours and media revelations about backroom deals, an exorbitant salary and a problematic contract however refused to die down. In October 2023, Parliament published a statement aimed at throwing water on coals fanned by Sunday Times journalist Andisiwe Makinana, who revealed that Mapisa-Nqakula and Masondo quietly approved a 70% increase in George’s salary from R2.6-million to R4.4-million.

Masondo and Mapisa-Nqakula’s statement was a pacifier, offering a perspective of a completely normal salary benchmarking process done by an independent company. The Executive Authority, Masondo and Mapisa-Nqakula, were further so “mindful of the prevailing socioeconomic conditions in the country”, that George’s package was about 26% less than at Salga. 

“Contrary to some narratives that the package makes Mr George the highest-earning public servant, his package falls below the earnings of most executives in the public service…” the statement opined. “The decision to review Mr Xolile George’s remuneration package was thorough, objective and in line with longstanding process. We remain committed to transparency and fairness in all our actions.”

Facts uncovered here suggest the concerns expressed by MPs and MPLs may have been justified and prescient.

The 2019 memorandum


Scorpio is advised that the crucial backstory to every detail linked to George’s contract and salary is a memorandum prepared by Parliament’s HR department and signed by NCOP Chair Masondo and then Speaker Thandi Modise on 26 November 2019. (Masondo, however, denies that the memorandum is binding or important.)

Parliament at the time had just emerged from a bruising fight with its then secretary Gengezi Mgidlana whose dismissal was recommended by a disciplinary panel based on serious misconduct. Mgidlana’s entire package offered him around R3.2-million at the time. 

(It is worth noting that George frequently hauls out Mgidlana’s salary in justification of his own.)

The well-argued 2019 memorandum offered an historical overview of salaries to secretaries over the past two decades and argued that Mgidlana’s R2.95-million salary was not in line with those of his peers - directors-general at state departments - who received between R2.17-million and R2.45-million. The memorandum states the reason is that Mgidlana’s subordinates increased his salary “in an irregular manner”. 

Mgidlana’s salary was also not in line with the remuneration packages for the secretaries to the provincial legislatures. 

Masondo and Modise agreed and signed the memorandum instructing that the Secretary to Parliament’s salary was to be adjusted downwards to a range of between R2.45-million and R2.6-million. 

A legal adviser in Parliament told Scorpio that the Auditor-General (AG) may well make an irregularity finding against Parliament based on the 2019 memorandum. 

AG spokesperson Africa Boso said the 2022-23 regularity audit made no audit findings relating to George’s salary. “The additional information that has now been made available to us will be considered as part of the 2023-24 regularity audit, which is currently under way.”

Sources say Masondo and Mapisa-Nqakula had been warned repeatedly, in at least two written legal opinions and through verbal advice, not to allow the ballooning of George’s salary outside the parameters set by the 2019 memorandum.

In his answer to Scorpio, Masondo stated that “there was nothing wrong in the executive authority reconsidering its 2019 position of cost saving [the 2019 memorandum], if it was yielding successful results. Circumstances had changed and the role evolved.” What is more, said Masondo, Parliament’s books reflected a surplus over the past three financial years and George’s salary was affordable.

Masondo further claims that George was headhunted in a process “not bound by the financial parameters of the advertised post”. 

Documents seen by Scorpio suggest that is only partially true. The actual aim for this “headhunting” was to search for female candidates and George was slipped in at the last minute. 

That this headhunting was conducted outside the “financial parameters” raises eyebrows, insiders said, and contradicts numerous written and verbal legal opinions to the Executive Authority.

It is further a questionable statement when considering George signed a letter of employment for R2.6-million - a fact Masondo’s answer to Scorpio acknowledges.

Misrepresentation of the 21st Century remuneration report


When the bomb about George’s salary windfall of R4.4-million burst in 2023, as reported by Daily Maverick’s Marianne Merten, Masondo and Mapisa-Nqakula’s October statement said his package was the product of a “careful review process” aimed to “maintain the package’s competitiveness, equity, alignment with industry norms and reflection of the role’s demands”. 

This is true, but a misrepresentation of the full story, as the reader will see. 

In late 2022, remuneration consulting company 21st Century was appointed to do, anew, a market-related review of salaries for the equivalent of George’s position in the private sector. This came about because for months since his employment in June 2022, George refused to sign his contract of employment, which stated his remuneration was R2.6-million. 

Witnesses in Parliament say George’s refusal caused great distress and at times triggered screaming matches and dark warnings about irregular expenditure. One witness said the situation was “very toxic”. 

At this point, all MPs and MPLs were still under the impression that the secretary was appointed at the salary advertised and confirmed in Parliament.

To understand the 21st Century report, we have to explain briefly what and how it endeavoured to advise Masondo and Mapisa-Nqakula. The company uses data from local listed and private companies and some government departments with a similar turnover, asset register and number of employees as Parliament to benchmark the industry norm for salaries. 

According to 21st Century, the Secretary to Parliament is on the same level as a company CEO or managing director. According to insiders, no benchmarking was done against George’s peers - directors-general of departments and the secretaries of legislatures.

The term ‘cost to company’ includes the basic salary and all perks and company contributions - 21st Century terms this the “total guaranteed package”. This package is divided into five classifications, which are the 10th percentile, lower quartile, median, upper quartile and 90th percentile. 

The benchmark total guaranteed package for CEOs and MDs in the 10% percentile are pegged at R2.4-million per year. This means that 10% of the CEOs and MDs in companies the size of Parliament earns less than R2.4-million per year. The median was listed as R3.2-million a year, meaning that half the CEOs and MDs surveyed earned less than this amount. (George’s initial salary would have fallen between the 10% percentile and the median.) 

The 90th percentile is listed at R4.1-million and means that 90% of those surveyed earned less than R4.1-million. Crucially, 21st Century states that the 90th percentile remuneration grade is only achieved by candidates with specialised and scarce skills tasked with the responsibility of running a complex business - companies with primary business in pharmaceutics, tax collection and medical insurance would be relevant examples, a labour expert told Scorpio. 

21st Century’s report explains that the “percentiles guide a remuneration decision based on the level of responsibility, scarcity of skills, complexity of the business and performance of an individual” and that the higher percentile is for “an individual who exceeds expectations”. 

When everything goes well, the company makes lots of money and the board is of the opinion that bonuses are due for proven excellence, the company considers paying “short-term incentives”. These discretionary incentives are bonus related, and are only paid in exceptional circumstances in cases where the company can afford the spend. 21st Century states “… incentive payments assume achievement of objectives…”

The three bonuses measured are an incentive target, related to the achievement of financial targets, a discretionary bonus, related to personal performance and profit share, a percentage of a company’s profits and also dependent on achievement. 

21st Century notes that “not all organisations pay short-term incentives every year”. On the occasion that these incentives are paid out, these are calculated as “total annual remuneration” along with the total guaranteed package. 

For well performing CEOs and MDs in the 10th percentile, the total annual remuneration would be around R2.6-million. 

Those CEOs and MDs with scarce skills who performed exceptionally well and exceeded all their targets, receive a total annual remuneration of R4,428,315, 21st Century said. 

The contract that George eventually signed in January 2018, based on the 21st Century report, stipulated that his basic salary was to be R4,428,315 - exactly the figure 21st Century benchmarked for exceptionally skilled candidates in a year where they met and exceeded all their targets.

It is perhaps telling that in Masondo’s detailed answers, he did not justify nor try to explain this huge red flag. Masondo makes no mention of the fact that George’s salary was pegged at the level of someone with extraordinary skills, and on top of that received as a basic package what this person would earn as bonuses after meeting a series of targets.

A section of remuneration consultancy company 21st Century’s report. TGP stands for “total guaranteed package” and STI for “short-term incentive”, which is bonus and performance related. The screengrab confirms the extraordinary fact that George received the total annual remuneration in the 90th percentile.



Armed with the 21st Century report, Parliament then quietly backdated George’s salary to reflect an annual package of R4.4-million from his starting date in June 2022 in contradiction of the Executive Authority’s 2019 memorandum, in contradiction of the advertised salary amount of R2.6-million, without any measurement of George’s performance, and without declaring the change. 

This means that George received a salary reserved for exceptionally skilled people along with bonus-related incentive payments sometimes offered to those who had a proven track record of work done from the moment he stepped into Parliament. Based on these factors, his employees refer to his salary as “exorbitant”.

In Masondo’s answers to Scorpio, he skips right over the detailed description of what the 21st Century report actually advises. Masondo says after George was informed that he was the preferred candidate, “it was clear that the remuneration parameter of the [Secretary to Parliament] position was outdated, especially given the type of candidate that Parliament wished to attract”. Masondo further emphasised that Parliament needed stability after the years without a permanent secretary.

A legal adviser in Parliament stated that this may well be true, but that “the position was advertised for R2.6-million. If the position was advertised for R4.4-million, the salary afforded to George, you would have attracted a different candidate. Parliament should have readvertised the position and held new interviews. The process was skewed and the outcome shows it.”

Masondo is further steadfast in his opinion that 21st Century “submitted its benchmarking report with findings and  recommended that the salary of the Secretary to Parliament be adjusted upward to R4.4-million being the amount they determined … would be market related and appropriate…”

Masondo opined that “there was nothing untoward about [the remuneration of R4.4-million] being implemented retrospectively as this had also been done in the past”.

How did George’s salary then get to the R5m mark if his contract allows for R4.4m?


In December 2022 and July 2023, Speaker Mapisa-Nqakula and NCOP Chair Masondo endorsed two salary increases agreed on by the Legislature Employers’ Organisation and Nehawu.

Questionably, George, who is the employer and accounting officer, included the recommendation for his own increase - first for 4.2% and seven months later for 6.5% - in his submission for approval to Mapisa-Nqakula and Masondo. 

Parliament insiders say one would expect the accounting officer to engage his employers separately about his own increase. Slipping in his own request for an increase ensures that he had no need to write a document in which was laid out the history of his own exorbitant increases.

A labour lawyer Scorpio consulted said these two increases were “shocking” and “highly questionable” because of the following reasons: it means George received an increase of 4.2% in December 2022 even before he signed his contract of employment. Seven months later, in July 2023, George received his second increase. This pushed his total package to a point just above R5-million, which is 92% more than what the position was advertised for, and what George signed up for.

Masondo told Scorpio that the “Legislative Sector, in accordance with the agreement with Nehawu agreed that both employees within and outside the bargaining unit were to receive an increase in 2022. [George], like all other employees within the legislative sector received a salary increase for the 2023/2024 financial year. It would thus be remiss to single out the salary of [George] as the sole recipient of a salary adjustment and increase. These were all retrospective as is also the norm.”

There is a lot of talk about George’s contract. Why is this an issue?


On 18 January 2023, six months after his appointment, George signed a fixed-term contract of employment. The contract lists his remuneration, inclusive of benefits, as R4,428,315 per year. 

The contract itself seems questionable as it includes a number of perks and benefits not included in the contract of former secretaries. Scorpio further has evidence that suggests George influenced its contents. For these reasons, the document seems very favourable to George. A labour lawyer Scorpio consulted, agrees.

An example is the contract includes a gratuity of two months’ pay for every year worked when the secretary’s employment is terminated. Another strange addition, extremely beneficial to George, stipulates that Parliament must give the employee six months' written paid notice or six months’ pay at the time of termination. This clause is applicable even in case the secretary could not do the job and “has failed to meet the requirements of the performance contract and key performance indicators”. 

“This is completely bizarre,” the labour lawyer said, “especially with the qualification of possible failure in his job. It is not acceptable.”

The contract further includes provisions for Parliament to “consider providing appropriate accommodation to the employee commensurate with the position and level of responsibility” and that Parliament “may consider providing an appropriate vehicle, a driver and a VIP protection officer to the employee, commensurate with responsibilities attached to the position subject to advice from the law enforcement agencies”. 

Scorpio had seen evidence that suggests the language used in these paragraphs is similar and in places exactly the same as confidential negotiations George initiated months before agreeing to take up the position of secretary. 

Masondo told Scorpio there is nothing unusual for a sought-after and headhunted employee to “negotiate additional benefits in a package” nor “an exit gratuity”. Masondo contradicts two experts interviewed by Scorpio, saying “payment of six month’s in lieu of notice is a common feature of employment contracts in respect of top executive positions…”

Scorpio has further seen two versions of an offer of employment (for R2.6-million annually) which George has signed. In both, George wrote by hand: “I accept the offer … I specifically record that the agreement between the executive authority [Masondo and Mapisa-Nqakula] and myself remains that the remuneration and/or benefits will be reviewed on.or before 01 October 2022 (sic)” and “offer of employment accepted with a condition to negotiate a mutually agreed remuneration package”. 

George’s own words seem to indicate an off-the-books chat with Masondo and Mapisa-Nqakula and that promises seem to have been made about an increase in his remuneration. 

In his answer to Scorpio, Masondo seems to indicate the same, but is careful not to name the parties to the discussion. Masondo said that before the interviews for the position were held, “George raised his concerns in respect of remuneration (as based on the advertised amounts) and was informed that the headhunting process was an independent process not necessarily bound by the terms and conditions as contained in the advertisements. Accordingly, at the outset, there was an understanding the successful candidate would be in a position to consider and negotiate the details in respect of remuneration and benefits, failing which such candidate could reconsider their participation.” 

MPs were aware of this, too.

When the National Assembly was asked to consider George’s appointment, EFF MP Yoliswa Yako voiced concern on 1 June 2022 in this way: 

“… We also want to make it clear that no one is going to be paid some amount that is negotiated in corridors. An advert was publicly circulated and a salary for Secretary to Parliament is public knowledge … [George] applied knowing, and if he doesn’t want the advertised amount, he shouldn’t have applied and should go home.”

Another contradiction is that, according to Masondo, there were discussions and an understanding between George, the headhunting company and the executive authority (himself and Mapisa-Nqakula) of an agreed salary of R3.2-million per annum in a letter dated 9 March 2022. Masondo’s assertion sits uncomfortably next to the fact that George three months later signed a letter of employment for R2.6-million. 

It is further noted that in no legal opinion in favour of Masondo and Mapisa-Nqakula nor any other document Scorpio has seen, has this offer of R3.2-million to George ever been repeated. Nevertheless, in Masondo’s version this “confirms that all the parties agreed that negotiation was an integral part in finalising the issue of remuneration and benefits”.

Fights in the House over George’s contract


In the last six months of 2022, things got very ugly due to George’s refusal to sign his contract, three sources told Scorpio. One example which allegedly raised the hackles of seemingly everyone involved was the issue of division manager Ravi Moodley’s contract. 

It happened like this:

After both Houses in early June 2022 accepted him as the successful candidate of Secretary to Parliament, George was given a letter of employment and a contract to sign. The letter of employment was the cover page for the contract of employment, a source in the legal department confirmed. “The two went together, and were to be signed and returned together,” the source said.

Both documents stipulated George’s “remuneration package” as “R2,604,611.00 per annum (cost to institution)”. The letter of employment stated he was to accept “the terms as detailed above” by signing “this letter of appointment and a contract of employment”. 

On 14 June 2022, George signed the letter of appointment, and scribbled by hand underneath, as indicated above, that the remuneration and benefits were to be “reviewed”. 

Chief legal adviser Advocate Zuraya Adhikarie later pointed out in a memorandum about the contract hooha that George then “assumed his duties” as accounting officer from 15 June 2022. He was granted an access permit, office space and started receiving and signing official letters of instruction as Secretary to Parliament. 

Two weeks later, on 29 June 2022, George signed an employment contract with Moodley, which triggered the drama. 

The HR department refused to load Moodley’s contract or pay Moodley’s salary. The then HR executive was of the opinion that George was not yet lawfully appointed because he had not signed his contract of employment as required by Parliament’s policies. 

When George dug in his heels, the HR department countered by refusing to load George onto the parliamentary system. Based on documents Scorpio had seen, the HR department’s argument seems to have been one of possible irregular procedure, irregular expenditure and fear of reprisal and negative findings from the Auditor-General. 

The drama consequently landed in the lap of a number of various legal advisers who seemed to have held different opinions. 

Legal advisers to Masondo and Mapisa-Nqakula are said to have repeatedly warned in written legal opinions and in verbal discussions against allowing George to dictate the situation. 

Masondo strongly denied this: “Contrary to your assertion, there was never any dispute between legal advisers. It is not uncommon for legal opinions to differ.”

By then, everyone involved suspected that George was after more money, a source said. 

Adhikarie and her colleague Advocate Frank Jenkins, in contrast, were of the opinion that the HR department erred. Jenkins advised that the letter of employment constituted a contract, “although the details might be absent”. 

The matter was only settled when Adhikarie, in a memorandum dated 16 August 2022, seemingly justified George’s unwillingness to sign his contract by arguing that various departments, including the HR department, accepted George’s authority by giving him an access card and office space. 

To then refuse to load George onto the system or the refusal to accept his signature on Moodley’s contract, is a contradictory act, Adhikarie stated. Masondo’s answer to Scorpio confirmed his support for Adhikarie and Jenkins’ opinions.

A legal adviser in Parliament did not. “I strongly differed with Adhikarie and Jenkins,” the source, who witnessed the contract debacle, said, “but that is why lawyers end up in front of judges. We offer legal opinions and people choose what to accept.”

A second source who witnessed the issue summarised it as follows: “The Secretary to Parliament was appointed and on-boarded on the back of a legal opinion and not based on a legally binding contract. It is difficult to understand why, if George’s letter of appointment was indeed a binding contract, Adhikarie, Jenkins, Masondo and Mapisa-Nqakula allowed the signing of the January 2023 contract. That after the lawyers said a legal contract is not necessary? 

“The lawyers changing their mind had the happy side effect of a massive 70% increase in salary.” DM

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