While Durban's residents are up in arms over the appalling state of service delivery, eThekwini municipal manager Musa Mbhele has had his annual pay package bumped up to R3.9-million.

Depending on who you talk to, eThekwini municipal manager Musa Mbhele is a good guy, apolitical and up to the job. Or, he is mediocre and not worth his recently upgraded R3.9-million annual pay packet.

Mbhele has been under pressure lately so, little surprise, he declined an interview with Daily Maverick this week. He's actually had a rough time of it since he was promoted to the top job in eThekwini: fighting with factions of the governing ANC and the construction mafia, and against corruption claims.

Opposition parties in eThekwini are raging mad that the ANC, supported by the IFP, has increased Mbhele's R2.6-million annual salary by R1.3-million. The pay rise comes at a time when ratepayers are livid about service delivery failures and some are involved in a municipal rates boycott.

But some say Mbhele sitting in the pound seats is only fair. IFP councillor Mdu Nkosi said his party supported the ANC in this instance because of salary discrepancies in the city's executive committee.

"We agreed to correct a remuneration discrepancy in the city's executive. Some heads of departments earn more than others and some of the municipal manager's subordinates earn more than he does. We have to...