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Good practice Imported

South Africa's Mandatory Income Differential (Pay Gap) Reporting — EEA4

South Africa · Pretoria · See the South Africa profile · See the Pretoria profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 59% 59/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

South Africa's amended Employment Equity Act now requires 50+-staff employers to file an annual Income Differential Statement (EEA4) with the National Minimum Wage Commission; the first cycle opened Sept 2025, though analysts note inspectors still lack real enforcement power.

50 employees
Minimum employer size subject to EEA4 reporting (n/a)
23-35 %
Estimated South African gender pay gap (n/a)
~20 %
Estimated global average gender pay gap (n/a)
1 September 2025 - 15 January 2026 date range
First revised EEA4 reporting window (2025-2026)
South Africa's Mandatory Income Differential (Pay Gap) Reporting — EEA4

Details

Promoter
National Minimum Wage Commission, Department of Employment and Labour
Period
Section 27 duty since 1998; amended EEA4 cycle from September 2025
Keywords
labour regulation, pay equity, public policy, employment law

Context

Section 27 of South Africa's Employment Equity Act, 1998, requires 'designated employers' with 50 or more employees to submit an annual Income Differential Statement (the EEA4 form) reporting pay differentials across occupational levels.

Objectives

The Employment Equity Amendment Act 2022 and accompanying 2025 regulations transferred oversight of this data to the National Minimum Wage Commission, mandated to analyse submissions and advise the Minister of Employment and Labour on further action.

Activities

The revised EEA4 form opened its first reporting window from 1 September 2025 to 15 January 2026 via the EE Online Reporting platform, sitting alongside broader equal-pay protections in Sections 6(4) and 6(5) of the Act enforceable by the CCMA and Labour Court.

Results

South Africa's gender pay gap is estimated at 23-35%, worse than the roughly 20% global average, and because the amended EEA4 cycle only opened in September 2025, no completed compliance results are yet public.

Conclusions

Labour-law commentators are explicit that the reporting duty alone has not closed the pay gap, since labour inspectors have no direct power to impose remedies (only the CCMA and Labour Court can), so this is included as a structurally significant but still-unproven reporting mechanism, not a demonstrated success.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k) — Reporting is folded into the existing annual Employment Equity compliance cycle through the EE Online Reporting platform, adding an incremental step rather than new machinery.
Time to results
Short (< 1 year) — First revised EEA4 reporting window: 1 September 2025 to 15 January 2026.
Staffing & skills
National Minimum Wage Commission analyses submitted EEA4 data and advises the Minister of Employment and Labour; CCMA and Labour Court retain enforcement power over individual equal-pay disputes.

Common failure modes

  • Labour inspectors have no direct power to impose remedies for non-compliance; only the CCMA and Labour Court can.
  • The reporting duty alone has not been shown to close South Africa's 23-35% gender pay gap.

Where it fits

Governance type
national statutory reporting mandate
Scale
national
Income level
upper-middle-income

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

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