Giwusa is calling for the minimum wage to increase to 15 000. However, the DA rejects any possible adjustments, noting increasing wages would spike unemployment and employers would not be able to afford company costs. Picture: Nadine Hutton/Bloomberg
The General Industries Workers Union of South Africa’s (Giwusa) president, Mametlwe Sebei, has proposed that the national minimum wage (NMW) be increased to R15 000.
This comes after the DA submitted written comments to the National Minimum Wage Committee opposing an increase to the minimum wage for the next financial year.
The NMW committee invited stakeholders to submit their responses on the possible adjustments to the minimum wage in 2025.
According to the DA, increasing the minimum wage would exacerbate the unemployment rate. Therefore, it should remain unchanged.
Despite the DA’s arguments, increasing the minimum wage is necessary as the cost of living is too high, said Sebei.
He cited a report by the Living Wage South Africa Network titled “Living wages is not an amount, but an approach“, which stated that an average employee needs R12 000 to R15 000 monthly income to afford basic living standard.
“A report recently said you need R15 000 that Giwusa insists on to ensure that workers are able to pay for food, cover transport and housing costs, and municipal bills that are increasing all over the country,” said Sebei.
With the current minimum wage being R27.58 per hour, Sebei stressed ordinary South Africans cannot even afford access to housing.
“The wages do not cover basic utilities a modern family needs. The reason workers are not able to build houses is because they cannot afford a basic house in this country,” he said.
The DA believes employers would fall back on paying salaries and covering costs if the minimum wage is to be increased, which may heighten the rate of joblessness.
However, Giwusa raised arguments that increasing the minimum wage would instead contribute to economic growth.
“We say implement a minimum wage of R15 000. We reject the argument that people are going to lose jobs. In fact, when you increase wages by 10%, it contributes 2.5% to economic growth,” said Sebei.
He further lamented that after 30 years of democracy, a system that keeps black people as cheap labour remains existent. Hence, a low minimum wage still prevails.
“We still have a system of cheap migrant black labour being the basis of the capital accumulation by the capitalist class across all industries. That is the reason we have appalling poverty wages,” said Sebei.
Sebei said even after the ANC took over the government after apartheid, the country’s wealth still remained with the elites, which suggests white supremacy.
Thus, the organisation called for the end of outsourcing service providers by companies, claiming such processes saw the prevalence of black tenderpreneurs who exploit workers in vulnerable sectors.
“We say end outsourcing. You have this programme of the ANC of creating a black capitalist class through tendering, through contract work that comes at an enormous expense of the black working class,” said Sebei.
He added the minimum wage increase proposal will be implemented across all industries. However, an exception will be made to companies that cannot afford wage increases, of which they must submit their arguments for consideration.
The Star
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