South Africa’s National Minimum Wage (NMW) is set to rise from R28.79 to R30.23 for each ordinary hour worked, with effect from 1 March 2026, helping stretched workers bring home a little more bacon.
Employment and Labour Minister Nomakhosazana Meth announced the R1.44 upward adjustment in the NMW in early February, saying it will benefit all workers, including vulnerable farm workers and domestic workers.
The NMW is the floor which an employer is legally obligated to remunerate employees for work done.
“In 2019, when we introduced the minimum wage at R20 an hour, there were about six million workers in the economy who were earning below R20 an hour. Therefore, that six million workers were transferred into a higher level by the minimum wage,” the Department of Employment and Labour’s (DEL) Acting Deputy-Director-General (DDG) for Labour Policy and Industrial Relations, Thembinkosi Mkalipi said.
In an interview with SAnews.gov.za, Mkalipi said the NMW has met and “even surpassed inflation.”
“We have been able to protect the minimum wage against inflation,” said the Acting DDG.
The National Minimum Wage Act came into effect in 2019 with the purpose of advancing economic development and social justice by improving the wages of the lowest paid workers; protecting the workers from unreasonably low wages; as well as preserving the value on the NMW. The purpose of the Act is also aimed at supporting the country's economic policy and promoting collective bargaining.
While applying to all workers and their employers, the Act does not apply to members of the South African National Defence Force, the National Intelligence Agency and the South African Secret Service. It also does not apply to a volunteer, who is a person who performs work for another person and who does not receive or is not entitled to receive, any remuneration for his or her service.
The DEL added that no employee shall be paid below the National Minimum Wage, adding that it cannot be varied by contract, collective agreement or law. It also added that it is unfair labour practice for an employer to unilaterally alter hours of work or other conditions of employment in implementing the NMW.
Since it came into effect, the minimum wage has been subject to an annual review.
Compliance and exemption
“There are 40% of employers out there who are not complying with the minimum wage. That 40-60 split has been consistent since 2019,” he said.
He flagged affordability and the insufficient number of departmental inspectors as possible reasons for non-compliance with the minimum wage.
“It could be the issue of affordability but at the same time, there’s an exemption process. An employer who cannot afford the minimum wage can apply for exemption and the process is quick and easy,” he said.
He further stated that there are limits for the exemption.
“You cannot get, I think, more than 10% below the minimum wage through exemption. Maybe they [employers] believe that applying for exemption does not give them that. We don’t have enough inspectors. Even if we had enough inspectors, there’s no way that we are going to have an inspector for each and every work establishment and they [employers] know that.
“Some employers prefer to take the risk. As you know that running a business is taking a risk. They are prepared to take a calculated risk and say: ‘what are the chances that an inspector will visit my factory?”.
He added that if employers believe that the chances of being caught are low; there is no incentive for employers to comply with the minimum wage.
“Those are the issues that we think affect that [compliance]; the capacity of the department in terms of numbers of inspectors; the willingness of employers to comply with the law and the attitude that says: ‘catch me if you can’ - because they believe that they might not be caught,” he explained.
In the State of the Nation Address (SONA) on 12 February 2026, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that an additional 10 000 labour inspectors would be hired this year.
Minister Meth welcomed the President’s pronouncement saying it “will significantly strengthen our capacity to enforce compliance with labour legislation, protect vulnerable workers and ensure fair labour practices across all sectors of the economy.”
This as the DEL currently has about 2 300 labour inspectors nationwide. In addition, in 2025 the department launched the Project 20K, a national initiative to recruit and place 20 000 graduate interns across South Africa’s public sector between 2025 and 2027.
Exemption process
Employers who cannot afford the minimum wage can seek relief through the online exemption process.
“The exemption operates online. Any employer that cannot afford the National Minimum Wage can apply for exemption. When you apply for exemption as an employer then you must give information. The system analyses affordability on the basis of the figures and information you have given. The system then gives you, or not, an exemption.
“If you get an exemption, you get a certificate of exemption that indicates that. Then you pay below the minimum wage because you received an exemption. It is a process that does not take long. There’s no human being involved in it - precisely because we don’t want inspectors to ask for brown envelopes,” said Mkalipi.
The NMW Act makes provision for an employer or an employer’s organisation, acting on behalf of its members, to apply for exemption through regulations that make provision for the form and manner in which exemptions must be made. For example, information to be submitted, obligations on employers to consult, criteria when evaluating and the period within which and application must be made.
To make use of the exemption process, an application must be lodged through the NMW system online (https://nmw.labour.gov.za/) by following procedures as prompted by the system.
For businesses, applicants must provide the most recent annual financial statements with comparatives and private households must provide an income statement and employees working hours and wage information, among others.
Job deterrent or not?
Asked about whether the National Minimum Wage is a deterrent to job creation, Mkalipi said the wage does not cause workers to lose their jobs. This, as research contracted to a University of Cape Town unit has looked at the impact of the wage.
“On the process of reviewing the minimum wage, we do research [through] a unit within the University of Cape Town. They have looked at what has been the effect of the NMW. When we review the NMW next year, they are going to tell us what the effect of this [current] increase has been. Was it negative to employment, did it cause unemployment or not? Every research says the same thing; there’s no evidence that the NMW affects employment. The research is done independently, not by the department.
“If your question is yes, the National Minimum Wage does not cause workers to be dismissed and retrenched, but does it cause employers not to employ workers? That research we can’t do because we only do research on what were the effects.
“We don’t have research that says the National Minimum Wage prevents employers from employing; but we’ve got research that says the NMW does not cause people to lose their jobs. That’s what research tells us… we cannot say that the NMW has caused unemployment in the sense that people lost their jobs. Research does not say that,” he explained.
The department has a five-year contract with the university and the unit is currently looking at Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) data.
“The Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) report influences the research that they do. They look at the figures of three [of the four] quarters. They are already busy with the research now to give information for the review that will come in 2027,” Mkalipi said.
The QLFS collects information on the labour market activity of individuals aged 15 years and older and provides the official measures of employment and unemployment.
Earnings
With effect from 1 March 2026, those working eight hour days will earn R241.84 a day (R30.23 multiplied by eight) and will amount to R1209.20 in a five day week.
“It depends on the hours worked; in terms of the minimum wage, nobody can be paid less than four hours. Even if you work one hour, in terms of the law you must be paid for four hours.”
On whether employers have the right to deduct payment from employees for issues like accommodation and food, Mkalipi said employers are not allowed to deduct more than a third of a worker's salary.
“Whatever deduction that they make, that’s the first thing. The second thing is that yes, if there’s an agreement between the two parties that, ‘I will provide you with accommodation and my accommodation costs this amount, I will provide you with food and my food costs X amount,’ as long as it is not more than a third, you can make the deduction.”
Strengthening compliance
Mkalipi is hopeful that with an increased number of inspectors, compliance with the NMW will receive a boost.
“We are hoping that with more capacity coming in, while it’s going to take some time, [with] the enforcement taking place, employers will see that the risk is not worth taking because it’s all about risk management” he said.
The Acting DDG called on other employers who may have knowledge of other employers that do not pay the minimum wage to come forward and name them, saying are “undercutting them (competitors) in the market by not paying the minimum wage.”
“The department alone is not going to be able to solve this. You need employers, trade unions, and employees themselves to assist by bringing the information and saying ‘in our company we are not getting the minimum wage’, so that inspectors inspect those companies where there’s already intelligence indicating they’re not paying,” he said.
On what measures the department can take in terms of employers not toeing the line with regards to the minimum wage, the DDG said: “There’s nothing that the department can do other than implement the law and apply the penalties provided in the law when those employers are caught. For us we have to increase the number of inspectors and levy the fines provided for in the law for those who are not compliant.”
Enforcement of the National Minimum Wage
According to the Act, there are two enforcement procedures for the enforcement of the NMW.
A labour inspector may secure an undertaking from the employer to comply with the provisions of the NMW Act. If an employer fails to comply with the written undertaking within the time period specified in the undertaking, the Director-General: Labour may request the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) to make a written undertaking an arbitration award.
The second procedure is one where a labour inspector may issue a compliance order if he/she has reasonable grounds to believe that the employer has failed to comply with the provisions of the NMW Act. The order may be issued in terms of section 69(1) of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) has welcomed the 2026 increase of inflation plus 1.5% (5% in total or R1.44) for the minimum wage saying it is a “progressive above-inflation increase.”
And while it is true that the cost of living continues to stretch the purse strings of many South Africans, the existence of the NMW helps to keep many from falling into a financial abyss. – SAnews.gov.za
