In 2024, South Africans will need to earn at least R15,000 per month to live comfortably, according to the Living Wage South Africa Network (LWSAN). This figure, deemed the “living wage,” is meant to ensure that even the country’s lowest-paid workers can adequately provide for their families and have enough left over to save for unforeseen emergencies.
Professor Ines Meyer from the University of Cape Town highlighted that this R15,000 net income is based on the self-reported quality of life from low-income South Africans. While this figure might seem reasonable on paper, it has sparked a debate among the public. Many South Africans, especially those familiar with the country’s high cost of living, argue that R15,000 is barely enough to cover monthly expenses.
“A number of people insisted that R15,000 could never cover their monthly obligations,” Meyer noted.
She went on to explain the stark reality faced by most South Africans: “It is hard to make ends meet on R15,000, yet most who work in South Africa earn even less. The legally prescribed national minimum wage comes to only one third of the living wage. If it is difficult to live on R15,000 per month, how shall those whose income is even lower get by?”
Meyer urged both the public and private sectors to critically examine the plight of these workers, who often struggle to afford basic necessities that many take for granted.
“This figure affords the opportunity to live a ‘decent’ life in the sense that it gives people a choice over areas of life that matter to them,” Meyer said.
She called on employers to voluntarily adopt the living wage as a standard, not merely as a legal obligation but as an act of human decency. The World Inequality Database highlights the gravity of the situation, revealing that South Africa’s median pay is only R5,417, placing it in the top 36% of earnings nationwide.
Meyer starkly contrasted the challenges faced by different income groups, stating, “We complain about living month-to-month, but many low-earning families survive from morning-to-morning.”
Meyer concluded by challenging the outdated corporate mindset that evaluates a worker’s worth based on their economic contribution rather than their intrinsic value as human beings. “This thinking developed almost a century ago when the world looked very different to today. We sincerely need to question this outdated thinking and create a cultural threshold where compassion for our fellow human aligns with corporate ambition,” she said.