By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The South African (SA) Medical Association (SAMA) has criticised a proposed 4.1% salary increase for public office bearers for the 2025/2026 financial year.
The Independent Commission for the Remuneration of Public Office-Bearers has published its recommended salary hikes, pushing an above-inflation increase of 4.1%.
The commission is mandated to make annual recommendations relating to the salaries and/or the upper limits of the salaries, allowances, benefits, and the resources required by defined Public Office-Bearers (POBs), to enable them to perform their respective duties effectively.
Its recommendations cover the Presidency, ministers, deputy ministers, members of parliament, provincial and local government, as well as judges, magistrates and traditional leaders.
It said it is of the view “that the realistic base range for inflation forecast for 2025/2026 should be between 3.5% and 4.5%.”
It also took into consideration the public service wage agreement, which saw public servants’ wages hiked by 5.5% from April 2025.
The commission acknowledged that the 4.1% recommendation was still high enough to add more to the financial pressures on the budget.
Sama has cited the austerity measures and funding pressures faced by public healthcare workers and other essential services and proposed that any adjustment to the remuneration of parliamentarians, ministers, and senior government officials be limited to an inflation-linked increase of 3.1%.
The recommendation was published in a government gazette on the 23rd of December 2025.
“The Board is of the view that this recommendation appears misaligned with the current socio-economic realities facing the country. Public healthcare institutions continue to experience severe budgetary constraints, staffing shortages, delayed procurement of essential medicines and equipment, and increasing pressure on healthcare professionals who are expected to deliver quality care under increasingly difficult conditions,” said Sama chief executive, Dr Mzulungile Theo Nodikida.
Sama said, were currently expected to do more with less, while communities faced reduced access to essential services.
“The Board believes that leadership during periods of national hardship should demonstrate solidarity, restraint, and a commitment to equitable sacrifice. Furthermore, the Board urges government to prioritise available resources toward strengthening frontline services, particularly healthcare, which remains fundamental to the wellbeing, productivity, and dignity of the population. Any remuneration adjustments should be carefully balanced against service delivery imperatives, fiscal sustainability, and the ethical responsibility of leadership to place the public interest above individual benefit,” Nodikida added.
The recommendation has not been received well by trade unions and political parties, who says the pay hikes are out of touch and come against a backdrop of government failures.
Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said it was shameful that this was in the same year that Cabinet said the state did not have money to fulfill its legal obligations and thus a 2% VAT hike was unavoidable.
Cosatu parliamentary coordinator Matthew Parks said the trade union federation would support a smaller 3.5% increase for judges and magistrates.
However he said Cosatu rejected any increase for politicians and called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to reject the proposal.
It is beyond shameful that in the year when cabinet said the state did not have money to fulfil its legal obligations and thus a 2% VAT hike was unavoidable, that this tone-deaf commission can make such an obnoxious proposal.
If approved, Cabinet Ministers stand to benefit from an increase of about R110,000, pushing their annual pay to roughly R2.8 million. Deputy Ministers would earn more than R2.3 million per year under the proposed adjustments.