NUPSAW welcomes the 2% downward adjustment by GEMS but maintains it is not enough
The National Union of Public Service and Allied Workers (NUPSAW) has noted the announcement by the Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS) regarding the reduction of the 2026 weighted average contribution increase from 9.5% to 7.5%, effective from 1 July 2026.
While NUPSAW acknowledges and welcomes this downward adjustment as a result of engagements between organized labour, the employer, and the Scheme, we maintain that workers continue to face unbearable financial pressures caused by the rising cost of living, stagnant wages, increasing medical inflation, escalating food prices, transport costs, electricity tariffs, and the continued erosion of workers’ take-home pay. Therefore, this is just a drop in the ocean and more still needs to be done.
Despite this adjustment, the GEMS contribution percentages remain significantly high for many public servants, particularly lower and middle-income earners who are already struggling to survive under worsening economic conditions, more must still be done to provide meaningful relief to workers, including further reductions in contribution rates, increased employer support, and the implementation of measures that genuinely protect workers from the escalating cost of healthcare and economic hardship.
Public servants, particularly healthcare workers, support staff, community healthcare workers, and lower-income employees, are struggling daily to survive under worsening economic conditions. Many workers are already forced to choose between healthcare, food, transport, and other basic necessities. In this context, even a 7.5% increase remains a significant burden on workers and their families.
NUPSAW is deeply concerned that the GEMS contribution increase continues to far exceed the salary adjustments received by many public servants. At a time when inflation continues to erode workers’ money, public servants are receiving wage increases that remain below the real cost of living, while medical aid contributions continue rising at a significantly higher rate. This imbalance places workers in an impossible financial position where salary increases are effectively consumed by healthcare costs, inflation, fuel price hikes, municipal tariffs, and other essential living expenses. The union maintains that workers cannot continue becoming poorer despite remaining fully employed and delivering critical public services under extremely difficult conditions.
NUPSAW reiterates its long-standing position that access to quality healthcare is not a privilege but a fundamental right for all workers. Medical aid contributions must therefore remain affordable, accessible, and aligned with the economic realities faced by public servants. The union further believes that workers cannot continuously carry the financial burden created by broader failures within the healthcare system and the increasing commercialization of healthcare services.
We further note GEMS’ reference to financial sustainability, fraud prevention, and rising healthcare utilization costs. We are cautioning them that sustainability must not come at the expense of workers who are already overburdened and underpaid. Workers should not be expected to absorb escalating costs while government continues to allow outsourcing, labour casualization, understaffing, and poor working conditions to persist across the public service.
NUPSAW also calls on government, as the employer, to increase its contribution towards employee healthcare benefits and to ensure that collective bargaining processes genuinely protect workers against declining living standards. We therefore of the view that any healthcare funding model must prioritize the interests of workers and service delivery at the core.
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For media enquiries contact NUPSAW MLO Neo Lebethe on 069 742 4004