The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) strongly condemns President Cyril Ramaphosa’s decision to approve a 3.8% salary increase for top political office-bearers, including the President, Deputy President, Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Premiers, MECs and Members of Parliament. This decision is a direct insult to the working class and the poor at a time when millions of South Africans are barely surviving under worsening economic conditions.
This increase will see already highly paid politicians receive substantial additional income in rands and cents. The President’s salary increase alone amounts to approximately R133,000 per year, or over R11,000 per month. The Deputy President receives an increase of about R124,600 per year, Ministers over R106,000 per year, Premiers over R100,000 per year, and Deputy Ministers more than R87,000 per year. These increases, on their own, exceed the entire annual income of millions of workers who survive on between R3,000 and R5,000 per month.
These obscene increases stand in stark contrast to the lived realities of the working class. Millions of workers, particularly in the informal economy, agriculture, domestic work, security, retail and cleaning sectors, earn far below what is required for a dignified life. Government’s own data confirms that between 5 and 6 million workers are paid below the National Minimum Wage, despite it being the law. Many face irregular or delayed wages, while others are trapped in precarious and casualised employment.
At the same time, the working-class household food basket costs between R5,000 and R6,000 per month, excluding rent, electricity, transport, education, healthcare and debt repayments. Food alone consumes more than a third of total income for millions of households. In contrast, top politicians earn over R230,000 per month, before benefits, and are now rewarding themselves with further increases while workers are told to tighten their belts.
SALARIES ARE ONLY THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG
The salaries approved for political office-bearers represent only a fraction of the real cost of maintaining the political elite. Under the Ministerial Handbook, members of the executive enjoy extensive state-funded benefits that completely insulate them from the cost-of-living crisis faced by ordinary South Africans.
These benefits include:
- Luxury state-funded vehicles, fully maintained, insured and replaced on a regular cycle;
- Official residences or housing benefits, including maintenance, utilities and security upgrades;
- Extensive state-funded travel for official duties, including business-class domestic and international flights, accommodation and subsistence, with no meaningful personal cost limits comparable to those imposed on ordinary public servants;
- Top-tier private healthcare, largely funded by the state, while public hospitals collapse under austerity;
- Full-time VIP protection, including armed bodyguards, drivers, convoys and residential security.
Conservative estimates based on parliamentary replies and Auditor-General reporting place the cost of ministerial security alone at between R2 million and R4 million per minister per year, with significantly higher costs for the President and Deputy President. When security, transport, housing and support staff are taken into account, the true annual cost of a single Cabinet Minister frequently exceeds R5 to R7 million.
These benefits have never been meaningfully reviewed or reduced, even during periods of wage freezes, austerity budgets, collapsing public services and deepening poverty. Austerity has been imposed on workers, the unemployed and the poor, but it has never touched the Ministerial Handbook.
DOUBLE STANDARDS AND CLASS INSULATION
This decision comes at a time when workers are told to accept wage restraint, job losses and austerity. Public servants face frozen posts, unbearable workloads and below inflation wage adjustments. Communities endure collapsing infrastructure, water shortages, electricity crises and dysfunctional municipalities. Young people face mass unemployment and hopelessness.Yet political office-bearers are shielded from these realities. They do not pay for transport, do not queue in public hospitals, do not worry about personal security, and do not experience housing or food insecurity. Their lived reality is completely detached from that of the working class.
South Africa’s crisis is not caused by a lack of resources, but by political choices that protect elites while disciplining the poor. Under these conditions, the government should have announced salary cuts for political office-bearers as a gesture of accountability and solidarity, not increases.
POSITION ON THE JUDICIARY
SAFTU makes it clear that it does not object to salary improvements for magistrates and lower-level judicial officers. For years, magistrates have been forced to protest over low pay, poor benefits, chronic staff shortages and unbearable caseloads. They are at the coalface of a criminal justice system under severe strain, facing public anger over delays that are the result of systemic under-resourcing, not laziness. Magistrates, like other frontline public servants, deserve support, not neglect.
SAFTU supports a rational, progressive and equitable remuneration framework that recognises responsibility and workload, without reproducing obscene elite privilege at the top.
SAFTU therefore demands:
- The immediate reversal of the 3.8% salary increase for political office-bearers;
- A comprehensive public review of the Ministerial Handbook, with the aim of ending luxury benefits and elite insulation;
- The redirection of public resources toward job creation, public services and real wage increases for workers;
- The immediate filling of all vacant posts in health, education, policing, social work and other frontline services;
- The expansion of public employment through a job-guarantee programme;
- The urgent implementation of a Universal Basic Income Grant.
SAFTU reiterates its call for an end to austerity and for a decisive shift toward a state-led industrial strategy that rebuilds manufacturing, supports local production and creates decent work. South Africa will not overcome its crisis by protecting privilege at the top, but by placing workers, the unemployed and the poor at the centre of economic and political decision-making.
SAFTU will continue to mobilise and organise against a system that demands sacrifice from the many while preserving comfort for the few.
Issued on behalf of the SAFTU General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi.
For media inquiries, contact the National Spokesperson at:
Newton Masuku
newtonm@saftu.org.za
0661682157
Media Officer
Asive Dyani
0719019564
