JOHANNESBURG, November 20 (ANA) – The African National Congress has welcomed the release of the report of the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) advisory panel on a national minimum wage, which proposed R3500 as a minimum wage.
“We believe this goes a long way to giving effect to the electoral mandate to the ANC government to introduce a national minimum wage,” ANC spokesman Zizi Kodwa said on Sunday.
Earlier on Sunday, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa released the report at a media briefing in Johannesburg. The panel has proposed a national minimum wage of R3500. However, Ramaphosa said the proposed figure still had to be discussed and debated by stakeholders before a final amount was decided on.
Kodwa said the panel’s report provided a clear way forward for the conclusion of a social compact between social partners under the guidance of Nedlac.
“The recommendations contained in the panel’s report are sound, credible, and clearly suppported by clear evidence, including technical submissions made by organised business, organised labour, government, and community constituencies,” he said.
Now that a quantum had been proposed, Nedlac constituencies needed to have an opportunity to engage with the proposals contained in the report, including the proposed level of the national minimum wage.
“The ANC is also particularly pleased that Nedlac is about to finalise a package of measures to reduce prolonged and violent strikes. These are all important interventions meant to stabilise our economy and help us create jobs as envisaged in the nine-point plan,” Kodwa said.
– African News Agency (ANA)
