In South Africa, published figures put pay for a feature writer at R 1–R 4 a word.
Published rates
R 1–R 4 a word
Sources
2 documents
What feature writer work in South Africa pays, according to the documents that set rates there, each quoted as printed. How the pay guide works →
What the published rates say
Word
General non-fiction writing, weighted average per wordSAFREA · Survey
R 3–R 4
Copywriting, average per word (n=15)PEG · Survey · 3 Apr 2025
R 2.43
General non-fiction writing, most frequently cited rate per wordSAFREA · Survey
R 1–R 2
Hour
General non-fiction writing, most frequently cited hourly rateSAFREA · Survey
R 400–R 500
Each published rate as a day's pay
Freelance · 1 figure
R 400–R 500 an hour
US$ a day at the ECB rate for the month. A month is 12 payments over 260 working days, or 13 or 14 where the agreement says so; a year is 260 days; a shift counts as a day.
| Type of work | What | As printed | US$ a day | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Freelance | General non-fiction writing, most frequently cited hourly rate | R 400–R 500 an hour | $217.88 | SAFREA · Survey |
Every figure, as printed
Open a row for the wording in the document and its dates.
Printed
R2.43DocumentProfessional Editors’ Guild rates survey 2025 · Survey StatusIn force · 3 Apr 2025
Printed
R1 - R2DocumentSAFREA SA freelance media industry and rates report 2025/2026 · Survey StatusIn force
Printed
R3 - R4DocumentSAFREA SA freelance media industry and rates report 2025/2026 · Survey StatusIn force
Printed
R400 - R500DocumentSAFREA SA freelance media industry and rates report 2025/2026 · Survey StatusIn force
Questions people ask
In South Africa, published figures put pay for a feature writer at R 1–R 4 a word.
PEG, SAFREA, in 2 documents.
About this data. These rates are compiled from publicly available sources and quoted as printed, with their date. We do not guarantee the accuracy of any figure. For information only: Journalist.net does not recommend or set rates. How we count