"This is important if the country is to succeed in fighting the triple challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequality," he said.

The NMW came into being four years after the National Economic Development and Labor Council first began deliberations on the protection of low-paid workers.

Although opponents say the NMW is a slave wage that cannot make both ends meet for the working class, Ramaphosa said on Friday he agreed that the NMW "is far below what we would want workers to earn."

"But we must understand that in setting the starting level, the social partners sought to strike a balance - between the need to measurably improve the income of the lowest paid workers and the need to sustain and increase levels of employment," the president said.

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