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President Cyril Ramaphosa will on Thursday meet officials from the labour ministry to discuss the planned introduction of a national minimum wage, a day after nationwide protests over the policy, which he has championed.
Several thousand union members marched in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and other cities on Wednesday to voice their opposition to the R20 an hour minimum wage, which they have called “starvation wages”.
Ramaphosa sees the minimum pay, which was meant to be introduced on May 1 but has been delayed, as an important first step to tackle labour instability and wage inequality.
He has staked his reputation on revamping a stuttering economy and rooting out corruption associated with Jacob Zuma, whom he replaced as president in February.
Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Khusela Diko, said his meeting with the labour ministry on Thursday was not a response to Wednesday’s protests but was part of regular updates he had been receiving on the minimum wage.
Protesters on Wednesday called for the proposed hourly wage to be scrapped and replaced with a “living wage” of R12 500 a month. That wage would be more than three times higher than the R20 an hour minimum wage in monthly terms.
“The president recognises that the national minimum wage is not a living wage, but we need to start somewhere,” Diko said.
Labour ministry spokesperson Teboho Thejane said the ministry had received a memorandum from protesters on Wednesday and that officials hoped to finalise amendments to minimum wage legislation with lawmakers by August.
Thejane did not give an estimate for the new implementation date of the minimum wage, which was approved by the cabinet under former president Zuma in November after lengthy discussions with unions and employers.
The South African Reward Association believes that the country must look beyond the national minimum wage agreement and vigorously explore ways to implement a living wage.
The phenomenon of “the working poor” is fuelling the ongoing resentment and violent industrial action that increasingly bedevils South African business, says the association’s Martin Hopkins.
“In many senses, the national minimum wage is something of a red herring, because it could distract companies from the need to work towards paying a living wage, rather than just a minimum wage,” he said.
He argued that the minimum wage did not allow employees to live a decent, dignified life, and employers should therefore devote attention to how to do so. While there was no consensus about what a living wage in South Africa is, it was certainly substantially above the R3500 minimum wage.
Hopkins believed that a true living wage was probably in the region of R10 000 to R 12 000 a month, although there was no “official” living wage figure for South Africa. – Reuters
