[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe's annual salary for 2009 has been pegged at US$20,800, according to figures in the national budget unveiled last week.[/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
Mugabe's US$1,733 per month pay includes allowances. It is dwarfed by the US$27,400 paid to Members of Parliament.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
With Zimbabwe's economy in terminal decline and most fingers pointing at Mugabe for the mess, some may feel he is overpaid – but his salary pales into insignificance when compared with what other Presidents in the region are getting.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
Former South African President Thabo Mbeki is known to have been earning US$118,200 (about R1,2 million) per annum, including allowances, when he stood down last year.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
His salary was considered miserly by private sector standards. The average chief executive officer of a listed company in South Africa earns between R3,3-million and R4,5-million a year.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
Even in retirement, Mbeki continues to have all the payments, salaries and other packages that he was receiving the day before he left office, for the rest of his life.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
Mugabe is obviously cushioned by the perks and privileges that come with his office, but with two of his children in university and another in a private school, it becomes apparent he is unlikely to be depending on his salary to pay their fees.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
His daughter, Bona, is attending university in Hong Kong. Fees for foreign students at the university for the 2009/10 academic year are pegged at US$12,896 (£9,062) which would even be a challenge to pay using his savings.
Source:Mugabe's new salary revealed
[/FONT]