The national minimum wage will kick in on January 1, meaning no South African worker will earn less than R20 an hour in the new year, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Friday.

"We are here to declare that from 1 January 2019 the national minimum wage shall be introduced. No worker in South Africa may be paid below the national minimum wage," Ramaphosa said while addressing stakeholders in Kliptown, Soweto.

"This is a great achievement for working people in South Africa who have endured decades of exploitation."