CCMA to enforce minimum wage implementation

The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) has been granted more powers  and responsibilities to enforce the national minimum wage.

Government has set the minimum wage at R20 from January next year. Commissioners are meeting with various stakeholders in Cape Town to discuss how to improve operations.

The national minimum wage is a hot debate between political parties and unions. President Cyril Ramaphosa has had the last say after he signed it off into law.

“The first thing we must do is to educate the nation. Secondly we must capacitate the commissioners, case management officers, interpreters and administrators who will be dealing with those cases because that’s important, because you can’t have a right that you cant enforce because you don’t know. Once we have done so, we will be ready to receive cases that come,” says CCMA Director, Cameron Sello Morajane.

An influx of complaints from people who might still be paid under the current stipulated wage is expected.
Six million South Africans are due to benefit from the minimum wage. These Capetonians shared their views about the operations of the CCMA.

“CCMA is a big company in South Africa but a lot of people, more especially when you get fired. Some of them they go there for the queues and don’t get help. They wait for long, especially if they don’t know you, your face and you don’t know anyone working inside there.”

“I know they help people that is being unfairly dismissed and its a good idea for them to exist because there are a lot of companies that i know personally that dismiss people unfairly.”

Can you afford to pay for food and household expenses on the new minimum wage?

The National Minimum Wage Act, 2017 is set to be implemented in May 2018. However, according to the Department of Labour, the process could be delayed by one or two months.

SABC Digital News and OpenUp (formerly Code for South Africa) has partnered to develop a Minimum Wage App that will give answers to the question: “Can South Africans survive on R3 500?”

Where does the information come from?

OpenUp has used the following data sources:

• Stats SA: “Poverty Trends in South Africa” report
• Pietermaritzburg Agency for Community Social Action (PACSA) “Food Price Barometer“
• Stats SA: Statistical release P0100, “Income and Expenditure of Households 2010/2011”. Embargoed until November 2012

How is it calculated?

The meals are calculated after household expenses are covered. So, in order to get three meals a day, one may have to reduce their allocation to household expenses.