The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) on Tuesday urged South Africans to down tools and support the national strike against the R20 minimum wage hourly rate.

"Government has already imposed VAT, sugar tax, fuel levy and all other manner of taxes to resolve an economic crisis that the workers did not create," the EFF said in a statement.

"The very same government proposes that the national minimum wage for all workers should be R20 per hour, even less than the minimum living wage that was in the findings of a research from UCT in 2014."

The party said the proposed minimum wage will further entrench poverty and cause the present inequalities to remain a permanent feature of the country, even though the ruling African National Congress "claimed it advocates for radical economic transformation".

Congress of South African Trade Unions' rival, the South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) will embark on a general strike on Wednesday over what it termed "the biggest attacks on working-class people, trade unions and the poor" since the end of apartheid.

Saftu has slammed the planned national minimum wage of R20 per hour, or R3 500 a month, as well as amendments to labour laws. The union federation is also angry over economic hardships facing workers and the poor.

Cosatu has distanced itself from the strike, saying that it supports the minimum wage tabled.