South Africa: Employment and Labour Minister – Nomakhosazana Meth announced a rise in the National Minimum Wage (NMW) rates for the year 2026 on February 03. The minimum wage saw increase from R28.79 to R30.23 for each ordinary hour worked.
Minister Meth said that the March 01, 2026 is the date on which this amendment shall become binding. This R1.44 upward move will benefit all workers including the vulnerable farm workers and domestic workers.
Excluded in the NMW, this increase will be workers employed on an expanded public works programme. The EPWP workers are employed under a special dispensation, as their adjustment will rise R15.16 per hour to a minimum wage of R16.62 per hour and the workers who have concluded learnership agreements contemplated in section-17 of the Skills Development Act, 1998 (Act No. 97 of 1998), and are entitled to the allowances contained in Schedule-2. The rats on learnerships will be published in the department website.
The National Minimum Wage is the major requirement South Africa’s labour market statutory. The National Minimum Wage Act came into effect in 2019. In terms of the legislation, employers are obligated to pay workers a minimum amount per hour. The National Minimum Wage is subject to an annual review.
Any violations of the Act are subject to fines enforced by the inspectorate. The National Minimum Wage is enforced by the Department, and Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA).
The NMW is the floor which an employer is legally obligated to remunerate employees for work done. No employee shall be paid below the National Minimum Wage. It cannot be varied by contract, collective agreement or law; and it is also an unfair labour practice for an employer to unilaterally alter hours of work or other conditions of employment in implementing the NMW.
In terms of the latest NMW adjustments, the rates in the Sectoral Determination for areas and rates, work categories for Contract Cleaning Sector, plus those of the IM1olesale and Retail Sector are also made available in the Departmental website .
The NMW Act applies to all workers and their employers except members of the South African National Defence Force, the National Intelligence Agency and the South African Secret Service. Also, it 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.
Notably, NMW does not include allowances (such as transport, tools, food or accommodation) payments in kind (board or lodging), tips, bonuses and gifts among others.