I heard benefits are over rated anyway. Medical aid and Pension should be required by law, it shouldn't be a benefit.
Why? Requiring something by law doesn't make it free, or even necessarily cheaper. Often in fact, the opposite happens.
And yet you pay for it yourself anyway.
From the company's perspective, the cost to employ someone includes everything that's mandated by law. If you pile on stuff that employees must have, you raise the cost of employment. When you raise the cost of something, you get less of it. The last thing we need in SA is less employment.
The maximum cost-to-company a particular employee can justify is fixed at a given time; the company doesn't much care if he takes that in cash or entirely in beer. The more you take in benefits or beer, the less you get in cash.
Who wants less cash? Who wants less cash, by law?! Of course, if the company has a buying advantage then benefits can make sense, e.g. if the company can get a discount on insurance or beer. But it's still worth understanding the trade-off and having the option of cash.
TL;DR, yes benefits are over-rated. No they shouldn't be required by law.