AGRICULTURE NEWS - Two of South Africa’s national agricultural organisations have expressed opposing views on the new national minimum wage due to come into effect on 1 March.
Thulas Nxesi, minister of Employment and Labour, announced yesterday that as of the beginning of next month, farmworkers would be entitled to a minimum pay of R18,68/hour.
This was 3,8% up on the R17,97/hour minimum wage that farmworkers were earning currently.
Louis Meintjes, president of TAU SA, said that while the new minimum wage for farmworkers would be “far below” the 12,5% increase sought by labour unions, the minimum wage legislation was doing more harm than good. He said that South Africa’s unemployment rate was at 29,1% in the fourth quarter of 2019, with approximately 40% of South Africans between the ages of 15 and 34 being unemployed.
Read the full article here on the Caxton publication, Farmer's Weekly.
