MINIMUM WAGE COULD BE R3 500
Ramaphosa welcomes move as progressive
DEPUTY President Cyril Ramaphosa said the proposed R3 500 national minimum wage is not a living wage but a step in the right direction in addressing wage inequality in the country.
Ramaphosa was speaking yesterday in Rosebank, Johannesburg, at the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) offices after receiving a report from a panel of advisors appointed by a committee of principals to advise Nedlac on the level at which the country’s national minimum wage should be set.
Ramaphosa said the fact that 47% of South Africans who were employed earned less than R3 500 “is something we should all be worried about”.
He said some may say R3 500 is too high, but that would mean many South Africans would remain in poverty. The hourly rate is R20. Farm workers and those in the forestry sector would get 90% of the minimum wage while domestic workers would get 75%. The panel found that these group of workers were mostly vulnerable because they are “poorly organised, which makes them especially vulnerable”.
Ramaphosa said the proposal was still an open process that South Africans would have to engage with and give their views before a final decision was taken. “We need to give an opportunity to all the social partners in Nedlac to go and engage with the report, to discuss it with their own constituency members and, having discussed it, the constituency members will then take a decision on whether the recommendations are accepted, rejected or a portion of them are accepted or a portion of them are rejected,” Ramaphosa said.
“On the government side, government delegations would have to discuss this in government committees. Thereafter it will go to cabinet and be thoroughly discussed and then there will be a mandate to come back to the principals and put forward the view of government.”
Chairman of the advisory panel Professor Imraan Valodia said they had thought long and hard about the figure and have had “many heated debates” before coming up with the figure.
The panel of advisors also relied on robust research around the subject and looked at international trends.
He said the proposed R3 500 would have an important impact and would help lift a large number of workers whose wages were low. Those who would prove that they do not have the financial means to pay the amount that would be agreed upon would have to apply for exemption based on evidence that they can’t pay the amount.
Valodia also said that the Department of Labour would have to enforce monitoring mechanisms.