National Minimum Wage: 'Many employers choose to ignore it' - Cosatu

Cape Talk's Sara-Jayne Makwala King spoke to Matthew Parks, Cosatu’s Parliamentary Coordinator.

Listen to their conversation in the audio clip below.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) highlights that enforcement is a major issue when it comes to the National Minimum Wage. 

"We see many employers just choosing to ignore the minimum wage completely."

- Matthew Parks, Parliamentary Coordinator - Cosatu

"If an employer generally can't afford the minimum wage, they are allowed to apply for an exemption. All they have to do is engage with their workers, and their unions - it doesn't mean they have to achieve consensus but they need to at least engage. Then they need to apply to the Department of Labour for exemption, they will be required to provide proof like financial statements showing that they generally can't comply..." 

- Matthew Parks, Parliamentary Coordinator - Cosatu

As of 01 March 2025, South Africa's new minimum wage is R28,79 per hour. 

Employers are legally required to pay their workers this minimum amount and are prohibited from compensating employees below the National Minimum Wage. 

The government states this measure aims to protect vulnerable workers from unreasonably low wages by establishing a baseline across most sectors.

According to Parks, the National Minimum Wage has resulted in wage increases for approximately six million workers.

"The more we pay workers, the more we reduce inequality and poverty, the better the workplace offers in terms of high productivity and the better the economy is because it's not going to be tourists who are going to come buy our shoes, our food, our furniture, our cars, it's going to be the domestic economy..." 

- Matthew Parks, Parliamentary Coordinator - Cosatu

Scroll up to listen to the full interview.