Legal Notice No. 54 of 2026: Lesotho Government Gazette Vol. 71, No. 49 (Friday, 29 May 2026)
by Zurayda Mayet
Introduction
On 29 May 2026, the Government of Lesotho published the Labour Act Wages (Minimum Wages) Notice, 2026 as Legal Notice No. 54 of 2026. The Notice was made by the Honourable Tšeliso Mokhosi, Minister responsible for Labour and Employment, acting under section 21(2) of the Labour Act, 2024 (Act No. 3 of 2024). It prescribes the statutory minimum wages payable across the principal sectors of the Lesotho economy and revises certain conditions of employment.
This article sets out, in objective terms, the legal basis of the Notice, its scope, the wage floors it establishes, and the features likely to be of practical and legal significance to employers, employees and practitioners.
Statutory basis and commencement
The Notice derives its authority from section 21(2) of the Labour Act, 2024. By its own terms it may be cited as the Labour Act Wages (Minimum Wages) Notice, 2026 and is deemed to have come into operation on 1 April 2026, that is, retrospectively, almost two months before its publication in the Gazette.
The Notice expressly repeals the Labour Code (Minimum Wages) Notice, 2025 (Legal Notice No. 62 of 2025), which had previously governed minimum wages. The 2026 Notice therefore now constitutes the operative instrument for minimum-wage determination in Lesotho.
The procedural background to the Notice reflects the consultative mechanism contemplated by the Labour Act, 2024. Press reporting at the time indicated that the Wages Advisory Board had been formally constituted under section 20 of the Act, that the statutory 30-day public notice period had been observed, and that representatives of workers and employers had reached agreement on the proposed adjustments before the Minister acted on the Board’s recommendations. The same reporting attributed the retrospective 1 April 2026 commencement to a desire to ensure that workers were not prejudiced by delays in finalising the Notice.
Scope and key definitions
Clause 2 of the Notice contains an extensive interpretation section defining the sectors and categories of worker to which the various wage floors apply. The careful definition of these categories is significant, because the applicable minimum wage depends entirely on correct classification of both the undertaking and the worker.
Among the defined terms are:
- Clothing, textile and leather manufacturing sector — manufacturing of clothing or footwear apparel and related processes (weaving, dressing, dyeing, tanning), including luggage, handbags, belts and shoes, whether for export or for local formal wholesale and retail. The definition excludes operations employing fewer than twenty people or marketing on premises, streets or house-to-house.
- Construction sector — commercial or industrial undertakings engaged in building physical infrastructure and employing more than five people, including the manufacture of building materials such as crushed stone, mining, stone cutting and brick making.
- Hospitality sector — undertakings involved in tourism and the accommodation of guests, including hotels, lodges, motels, restaurants, food caterers, guest houses, and betting and gambling, but excluding undertakings falling under the general minimum wage and small businesses.
- Retailers / retail sector — undertakings selling goods and services directly to the public (mini-supermarkets, bakeries, cafés, filling stations with more than five employees), and businesses purchasing goods for re-sale.
- Security industry, watchman and trained security guards — distinguishing, in particular, between security personnel employed by a security company and a “watchman” privately employed to guard a private dwelling or area.
- Small business — an undertaking employing not more than ten persons, wholly owned by Basotho companies or partnerships with majority Basotho shareholding, expressly including butcheries, cafés or snack bars, coal and wood dealers, general cafés, green grocers and public bars, but excluding holders of supermarket and wholesaler traders’ licences.
- Transport sector — undertakings employing persons holding driving licences to convey goods, services or passengers, regardless of the sector in which the undertaking operates.
Additional defined terms address textile general workers, trained and trainee textile machine operators, domestic workers, the general minimum wage and wholesalers.
The wage schedule
The Schedule to the Notice sets out the basic minimum wages, expressed in Maloti, on a monthly, weekly and daily basis. In most sectors the Notice differentiates between employees with less than twelve months of continuous service with the same employer and those with more than twelve months, with the latter attracting a higher floor. The principal figures are summarised below.
A. Clothing, textile and leather manufacturing
| Category | Monthly | Weekly | Daily |
|---|---|---|---|
| Less than 12 months | |||
| Textile General Worker | 2,834 | 655 | 131 |
| Textile Machine Operator | 3,046 | 703 | 140 |
| Textile Machine Operator Trainee | 2,833 | 655 | 131 |
| More than 12 months | |||
| Trained Machine Operator | 3,163 | 732 | 147 |
| Textile General Worker | 3,138 | 726 | 146 |
B. Construction
| Category | Monthly | Weekly | Daily |
|---|---|---|---|
| Less than 12 months | |||
| Construction Machine Operator & Certificated (bricklayer, carpenter, steel fixer, welder, electrician, plumber) | 5,307 | 1,254 | 294 |
| Construction Worker (unskilled heavy physical) | 3,371 | 848 | 179 |
| More than 12 months | |||
| Construction Machine Operator & Certificated | 5,919 | 1,398 | 361 |
| Construction Worker | 3,712 | 925 | 194 |
C. Wholesale and retail
| Category | Monthly | Weekly | Daily |
|---|---|---|---|
| Less than 12 months | |||
| Wholesale, supermarkets and furniture shops | 3,227 | 745 | 157 |
| Bakeries with more than 40 employees | 3,227 | 745 | 157 |
| More than 12 months | |||
| Wholesale, supermarkets, furniture shops | 3,423 | 791 | 189 |
| Bakeries with more than 40 employees | 3,423 | 791 | 189 |
D. Retail sector (other than small business)
Covering mini-supermarkets, bakeries with fewer than 40 employees, cafés, and filling stations.
| Service | Monthly | Weekly | Daily |
|---|---|---|---|
| Less than 12 months | 2,918 | 722 | 155 |
| More than 12 months | 3,083 | 779 | 163 |
E. Hospitality
| Category | Monthly | Weekly | Daily |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hotels, motels & lodges — less than 12 months | 3,196 | 815 | 169 |
| Hotels, motels & lodges — more than 12 months | 3,391 | 873 | 180 |
| Restaurants, caterers & guest houses — less than 12 months | 2,904 | 730 | 156 |
| Restaurants, caterers & guest houses — more than 12 months | 3,118 | 780 | 161 |
F. Service sector
| Category | Monthly | Weekly | Daily |
|---|---|---|---|
| Security guard — less than 12 months | 2,720 | 680 | 140 |
| Security guard — more than 12 months / certified by Home Affairs | 3,197 | 814 | 190 |
| Watchman — less than 12 months | 2,461 | 613 | 134 |
| Watchman — more than 12 months | 2,668 | 673 | 152 |
| Funeral parlour — less than 12 months | 3,227 | 811 | 173 |
| Funeral parlour — more than 12 months | 3,423 | 862 | 214 |
| Cleaning services — less than 12 months | 3,227 | 811 | 173 |
| Cleaning services — more than 12 months | 3,423 | 862 | 214 |
G. Transport sector and other drivers
Rated by reference to the licence code appearing on the driver’s licence.
| Licence code | Monthly | Weekly | Daily |
|---|---|---|---|
| Less than 12 months | |||
| B / EB / C1 | 3,205 | 795 | 196 |
| C / EC1 | 3,469 | 868 | 215 |
| EC | 6,447 | 1,606 | 405 |
| More than 12 months | |||
| B / EB / C1 | 3,510 | 880 | 219 |
| C / EC1 | 3,803 | 957 | 237 |
| EC | 7,918 | 1,978 | 487 |
Certificated transport workers (auto electrician, motor mechanic, panel beater, spray painter) attract 4,889 monthly (less than 12 months) and 5,175 monthly (more than 12 months).
H. Small business
| Service | Monthly | Weekly | Daily |
|---|---|---|---|
| Less than 12 months | 1,640 | 404 | 93 |
| More than 12 months | 1,858 | 548 | 99 |
I. Domestic worker (including light physical worker)
| Service | Monthly | Weekly | Daily |
|---|---|---|---|
| Less than 12 months | 911 | 240 | 55 |
| More than 12 months | 1,005 | 264 | 71 |
J. General minimum wage
Applicable to unskilled or manual labourers in any commercial or industrial undertaking not otherwise specified.
| Service | Monthly | Weekly | Daily |
|---|---|---|---|
| Less than 12 months | 2,343 | 583 | 126 |
| More than 12 months | 2,558 | 644 | 145 |
Conditions of employment
Part K of the Schedule addresses maternity entitlements, distinguishing between sectors:
- An employee with more than one year of continuous service in the textile, clothing and leather manufacturing sector is entitled to six weeks’ paid maternity leave.
- An employee with more than one year of continuous service outside the textile, clothing and leather manufacturing sector and the private security sector is entitled to six weeks’ paid maternity leave before confinement and six weeks after confinement.
- An employee with more than one year of continuous service in the private security sector is entitled to six weeks’ paid maternity leave.
- The benefit under paragraphs (1) and (2) is limited to two confinements per employee during her employment with the same employer.
The differentiation in maternity entitlement, six weeks in the textile and private security sectors, against a combined twelve weeks (pre- and post-confinement) in most other sectors, is a notable feature of the conditions of employment provisions.
Features of legal and practical significance
Several aspects of the Notice warrant the attention of employers and advisers.
Retrospective commencement. Because the Notice is deemed to have operated from 1 April 2026 while being published only on 29 May 2026, employers are, on its face, obliged to ensure that wages paid since 1 April 2026 conform to the new floors. Practitioners may wish to consider any back-pay or reconciliation implications for the intervening period.
The decisive role of classification. Given the breadth of the defined sectors and the material differences in rates between them, correct classification of both the undertaking and the individual worker is central to compliance. The distinctions drawn in the Notice, for example, between a “watchman” and a security guard, between a “small business” and a retailer, or between employees above and below twelve months’ continuous service, directly determine the applicable wage floor.
Service-based tiering. The recurring distinction between fewer than, and more than, twelve months of continuous service with the same employer means employers must track tenure accurately, as the floor rises once an employee crosses the twelve-month threshold.
Repeal of the 2025 Notice. As the 2026 Notice repeals Legal Notice No. 62 of 2025, the 2025 schedule no longer applies. Employers updating payroll systems should ensure they are working from the current instrument.
Enforcement context. Compliance sits within an enforcement framework administered by the Ministry of Labour and Employment. Public reporting in 2026 noted that the ministry’s enforcement capacity is constrained, the Minister was reported to have referred to a small inspectorate relative to the large number of registered businesses, even as the ministry reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening compliance. Under the Labour Act, 2024, failure to pay the statutory minimum wage may attract financial penalties and, in appropriate cases, criminal sanction.
Conclusion
The Labour Act Wages (Minimum Wages) Notice, 2026 consolidates and updates Lesotho’s sector-specific minimum wage regime under the Labour Act, 2024. Its principal practical effect is to set new monthly, weekly and daily wage floors across the clothing and textile, construction, wholesale and retail, hospitality, service, transport, small-business, domestic-work and general-wage categories, while preserving differentiated maternity entitlements. The retrospective commencement date, the repeal of the 2025 Notice, and the importance of accurate sector and tenure classification are the features most likely to require employers’ immediate attention. Employers and employees uncertain of their position under the Notice are well advised to obtain specific legal advice on classification and compliance.
This article is provided for general information and does not constitute legal advice. It summarises the contents of a published legal instrument as at the date of writing.