BBC
South African miners protesting at low wages.
Workers have been striking over low wages
South Africa's government has proposed a national minimum wage of 3,500 rand ($242; £199) a month.
About 47% of working South Africans earn less than the wage, which is being introduced to combat income poverty and inequality.
But critics say it could put more people out of work as employers might not be able to afford the higher wages.
The government says it will consult on the issue, but hopes to introduce a minimum wage within two years.
Announcing the rate, which was proposed by a panel of advisers, the country's deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa said: "We are now a step closer to finalising discussions on the national minimum wage. All social partners will now decide what their take is."

He said the panel was not endorsing the proposed figure as a living wage, but wanted to set a minimum payment for workers.
Plan 'favours business'
Wages are politically sensitive in the country, where the official unemployment rate is close to 25%.
One employment expert reckoned the figure was only about a quarter of the amount needed for the upkeep of a typical South African working-class household.
Prof Chris Malikane of the University of Witwatersrand told a Johannesburg radio station: "You would need 12,000 rand to sustain a basic household."
The African National Congress, South Africa's ruling party, supported the proposal calling it "credible and clearly supported by clear evidence".
However, the Economic Freedom Fighters, the country's third largest political party, said the plan "favours business at the expense of workers".
It called for a higher minimum wage of at least 4,500 rand.
South Africa faces a possible downgrade to sub-investment grade by credit ratings agencies next month, with concerns remaining over violent wage strikes.
Moody's currently rates South Africa two notches above subinvestment grade, with a negative outlook, while Fitch and S&P Global Ratings have it just a step above "junk".
However, Mr Ramaphosa said: "We have made tremendous progress on the labour instability issues,"


http://www.bbc.com/news/business-38052755

Good moves! Nigerian Govt should increase and implement the national minimum wage too.

$242 is how much in Naira?
And minimum wage in Nigeria is N18,000 ($40).
Are we truly the giants like we claimed?

igbeke:
$242 is how much in Naira? And minimum wage in Nigeria is N18,000 ($40). Are we truly the giants like we claimed?

Its N108 000, thats what farm workers, cleaners, etc will get.

igbeke:
$242 is how much in Naira?
And minimum wage in Nigeria is N18,000 ($40).
Are we truly the giants like we claimed?

you people should stop displaying ignorance on the Internet...you can't be using the dollar rate to compare the minimum wage...you people need to know the cost of living first before jumping into conclusions ...do you know that to rent one bedroom flat in South Africa is at least 2500 rand monthly??and in some major cities it is up to 4500 rand monthly,do you know that 1$ makes 14 rand??meaning a bedroom flat cost around 200- 300$ monthly depending on the area in South Africa if we want to use the same Dollar you are using to compare na....and here in nigeria you can get a good one bedroom flat for 300000naira for just one year which is less than 900$ for a year in nigeria,do u want to compare it with 200$ -$300 monthly which will be equal to 2400$- 3600$ for a year in South Africa??you can investigate all these figures ...Google is your friend....just google house rent in South africa....or ask any of your family members living in South Africa...check the screenshot below,these are some prices of some basic things in South Africa in rands...now calculate how many rands make a dollar then use it to know how much it cost per dollar and also compare it to how much those things cost in naira if you convert the price from rand to naira even at the official exchange rate of rand to naira ...currently at the official rate 1 rand is equal to 22naira ,that is even the official rate ooo,even the black market rate will
Even be higher .even at the offical rate do the maths...you can do your own findings ..Google is your friend and you will see why it is wrong to compare minimum wage using the dollar rate and ignoring the cost of living......mind you I am not saying the minimum wage in nigeria should not be increased or is more than enough but what I am just informing you is that it is wrong to compare minimum wages without looking at the cost of living critically ...and yes the South Africa government and the nigerian government should increase the minimum wages ....Africa as a whole get wahala ,na Naija wahala come plenty pass..blame the incompetent leaders in Africa..infact in nigeria the minimum wage is not the problem but can the minimum wage cover the cost of living comfortably??the answer is NO!!!so our aim should be competent leaders that knows how to improve the economy in order to make the minimum wage valuable because as it is right now even if they increaese the minimum wage but the price of things still keep increasing then we are still going to go back to square one because the wage will become useless if it cannot cover expenses..