Cape Town – President Jacob Zuma congratulated his deputy Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday night during the delivery of his State of the Nation Address (SONA) for successfully overseeing the conclusion of a national minimum wage.
READ: How rand reacts to Zuma's SONA
Ramaphosa on Wednesday signed a deal that will see workers getting paid a minimum hourly rate of R20. The agreement will take effect from May 2018.
READ: 10 things every South African must know about R20 wage deal
Representatives of government, business, the community sector and two of the three labour federations represented at Nedlac signed agreements on measures to strengthen labour stability and collective bargaining and on modalities for the introduction of a national minimum wage.
The third federation represented in Nedlac, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), was not present to sign the agreements, having asked to be given time to provide a full report to its Central Executive Committee.
In addition, Zuma congratulated the CEO Initiative, a grouping of business leaders that was founded early last year, to help stave off a ratings downgrade.
Read Fin24's top stories trending on Twitter: Fin24’s top stories