Mugabe's US$1,733 per month pay includes allowances. It is dwarfed by the US$27,400 paid to Members of Parliament.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.