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No, President Jacob Zuma doesn’t earn R3.2 million per month

This article is more than 8 years old

President Jacob Zuma, said to be preparing his speech ahead of the 2015 State of the Nation Address in parliament. Photo: Department of Communications President Jacob Zuma ahead of the 2015 State of the Nation Address. Photo: Department of Communications

Is South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma raking in a salary of over R38 million each year? This was what Africanews, an African news website, recently said.

“South Africa’s opposition parties are in protest of President Jacob Zuma’s salary increase. They say he does not deserve it,” the website claimed.

“Zuma will now earn close to $200,000 a month, following approval by Parliament last week.”

But the numbers are off, by a long way.

South Africa’s parliament voted to increase Zuma’s salary to R2,716,798 per year on 10 March. So he can budget on about R226,000 per month. This works out to $14,084 at the current exchange rate - 14 times less than the $200,000 reported by Africanews.

South Africa’s total cabinet salary bill comes in at just over R158 million for 2015/16. - 16/03/2016

Read: How much does South Africa’s cabinet really cost?

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