Meth tells employers to let workers go and vote on 4 November
The employment and labour minister has asked bosses to release staff for the local government election day, with employers and employees urged to arrange it together.
Minister of Employment and Labour Nomakhosazana Meth has called on employers to release workers so they can vote in the local government elections on 4 November 2026.
The government said employers and employees are encouraged to work together so that eligible workers get the chance to take part.
The call, carried in a Government of South Africa post on X, does not set out new leave entitlements or say what happens where a shift cannot be covered. It asks bosses and staff to make the arrangement between them.
Voting day falls on a Wednesday, which puts the question of time off squarely in workplaces across the country, from factories and mines to shops, farms and offices that run shifts through the week.
Eligible workers who want to vote will need their employers to release them for long enough to reach a voting station and cast a ballot. How that is handled is left to the workplace.
