The DA is to institute legal action to overturn the appointment and salary increase of parliament’s secretary, Xolile George, who benefited from a 70% salary increase to R4.4m within months of assuming office. The secretary to parliament is the most senior civil servant in the institution, responsible for its day-to-day administration. DA parliamentary leader George Michalakis said at a media briefing on Friday that parliament had been misled about George’s appointment and that the salary increase was both unlawful and irregular. The DA would immediately file court papers in the Western Cape High Court to have the appointment and salary set aside. “Overturning the appointment and salary increase will uphold accountability and transparency in parliament,” he said, adding during an interview that the ANC had blocked opposition parties’ interrogation of the matter over many years on the grounds that there was nothing wrong with the process. The DA has raised the issue with parliament’s powers and privileges committee as well as in the joint committee on the financial management of parliament without success, which was why it was taking the matter to court. “The parliamentary route has been exhausted up to now. The ANC has blocked interrogation of the matter,” Michalakis said. “The crux of the DA’s case is that the then Speaker of the National Assembly, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, and chairperson of the National Council of Provinces, Amos Masondo, misled Parliament when they induced them to endorse Mr George’s appointment on the basis of a much lower salary package,” Michalakis explained. “At the time of his appointment, the salary range of secretary to parliament was capped at R2.6m following a review process of parliament’s unaffordable wage bill. Mr George was also not one of the 81 candidates who had applied, or the nine that were shortlisted, for the position during the second round of advertising at that remuneration rate.” Despite being appointed, George did not have an employment contract between assuming office in June 2022 and September 2022. In January 2023, Mapisa-Nqakula and Masondo instructed that his salary be increased to R4.4m with back pay to June 2022. Michalakis explained that in 2019 parliament’s human resources reduced the secretary’s salary from R2.95m a year to between R2.45m and R2.6m because of severe pressure on its wage bill. George applied for the position when the recruitment process was opened in 2020 and was the highest ranking candidate. Parliament’s executive authority offered him a salary of R3.2m in March 2022, but human resources advised that such a salary would be irregular and constitute unauthorised expenditure, as it was not within the approved salary range. The panel of parliament then decided it couldn’t afford George and reopened the recruitment process for new applicants. In the second round of advertising George did not apply, and nine candidates of the 81 applicants were shortlisted. However, a month later the executive authority advised that George was now available and willing to accept the advertised R2.6m salary and that the advertised process should be withdrawn. “Effectively the public recruitment process was halted after it had already closed and the job was given to someone who in that round did not even apply,” Michalakis said. This was irregular, he added. This decision at a salary of R2.6m a year was taken to both the National Assembly and the NCOP for approval. According to Michalakis, this was a misleading of the house, because he was subsequently given a much higher salary. The basis of parliament’s approval of his appointment was that he would receive a R2.6m salary. George took up the position in June 2022 but only got an employment contract in September 2022 even though he was signing documents during this time in this capacity. In January 2023 he was informed that he would receive a salary of R4.4m plus benefits — retrospective to June 2022 — which Michalakis said was negotiated by George himself, as proved by documents in the DA’s possession. Michalakis said the DA would ask the court for the declaration of invalidity of George’s appointment to be suspended for a limited period to give parliament time to appoint a new secretary in a lawful way. During this period George should be remunerated at the advertised rate of R2.6m.Business Day