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Domestic workers are an integral part of the South African landscape, providing the ever more prevalent working moms with a crucial extra pair of extra hands as they rush around to get everything done. The new minimum wage increases for domestic workers (2016/2017) was promulgated earlier this month. Below we share some of the letters and responses we had on social media.
TP said: "Her domestic earns R2500, she lives in her own cottage on the property on a permanent basis and we buy all of her groceries, take care of water and electricity etc. She does not work weekends, gets paid overtime at a higher than normal rate, gets 3 weeks annual leave in which I will pay her travel costs to and from Zimbabwe, and all the other normal benefits. I am hoping to be able to increase her basic salary to R3000 next year, so that she can average R3500 per month".
" I pay my domestic worker 180 for 9am-4:30pm work, including a healthy breakfast and lunch. If she wants to, she leaves at 3:30 and takes her lunch home with her. I try not to micromanage and give her as much freedom as I can afford to. She also has a babysitter that gets R240 a day", said ZK
Anonymous sent her letter: "We pay our domestic/nanny R3300 a month and she comes in at 6:15am, takes time off during the day, and then leaves around 5:30pm when we are back from work and school and she has polished school shoes etc. She cooks for us quite a lot and lives in and I buy her all her food. She also gets paid R120 per night of baby sitting (whether it’s 2 or 6 hours). We pay her a 13th cheque in December and her room has a TV, radio/cd player, bathroom with a bath and hot water, shower and of course a bed and bedding. She comes in on a Saturday morning for around 2 hours to make beds and wash dishes then is off for the rest of the weekend".
There was also some excellent feedback on our FACEBOOK and YOUR BABY pages.
1. Without her I would be lost.
2. Nothing gets stolen if i clean myself.
3. She's been a second mom.
4. Our nanny is amazing.
5. I pay alot more than minimum wage.
6. Mine was unreliable.
7.We are excited to welcome our nanny.
8. We provide transport back home.
