"2025 Minimum Wage Increase: A Stab in the Back for Workers?"

The South African labor force is expressing significant concerns about the minimum wage increase set to take effect on 1 March 2025.

The new national minimum wage will rise to R28.79 for each ordinary hour worked, reflecting a 4.39% increase from R27.58 in 2024.

Additionally, workers participating in the expanded public works program will receive a minimum wage of R15.83 per hour, up from R15.16 in 2024.

Adjustments have also been made to the minimum wages for workers in the contract cleaning, wholesale, and retail sectors. These changes are detailed in the sectorial determinations.

Workers across the nation, especially in the farming, domestic, and retail sectors in Drakenstein, are expressing their deep discontent with the R1.27 wage increase planned for 2025. Their dissatisfaction is largely fueled by the rising cost of living, with prices for staple items like bread soaring to R24 and milk climbing to R30.

Many South African workers are also voicing concerns over the steep costs of electricity and water. They are questioning the government about how these calculations around the minimum wage were reached, given the high cost of living and the uncertainty surrounding unforeseen changes that can materialise in 2025 saying “We are being stabbed in the back and crippled into poverty”.

The following sector-specific minimum wage rates will apply:

• Workers engaged in Expanded Public Works Programmes: Minimum hourly rate will increase from ZAR 15,16 to ZAR 15,83.

• Contract Cleaning services sector (rates vary by region)

• Metropolitan councils: (City of Cape Town, Greater East Rand Metro, City of Johannesburg, Tshwane, and Nelson Mandela Bay) – employees will be entitled to a minimum hourly rate of ZAR 31.69.

• KwaZulu-Natal: Minimum wage rates must comply with those set out in the Bargaining Council for the Contract Cleaning Service Industry’s collective agreement.

• All other areas: Employees will be entitled to a minimum hourly rate of ZAR 28,89.