LISTEN: Domestic workers say 5% minimum wage increase not enough
The South African Domestic Workers Forum says while it welcomes the 5% increase to the minimum wage, it feels the adjustment could've been higher.
" We would have recommended an increase of between six to 8%, not only because we feel like the rate is not enough, but simply because the sector has been marginalised and has been underpaid for many years," says the forum’s chairperson Lindiwe Shibambo.
The National Minimum Wage is going up next month, from R28.79 to R30.23.
Farm workers will be among those affected.
For domestic workers, Shibambo says it's not enough with the current cost of living.
The group - a non-profit that supports domestic workers - says government needs to take a more aggressive approach to address years of underpayment. Shibambo explains that challenges in the sector worsed during the COVID-19 pandemic because of job losses and reduced pay.
READ: Warning that minimum wage hike leaves govt ‘between devil and deep blue sea’
"The COVID impact is still being felt by domestic workers because employment in that particular space declined it, that it's shrinking, and you're looking at foreign workers that are coming from Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Malawi, who are also looking to become domestic workers in South Africa, offer the same service perhaps at a lower rate.
“And we are also looking at skills development, lack of skills development and lack of knowledge.”
However, labour lawyer Micheal Bagraim says when compared to other countries with similar economies, some don't have a minimum wage or an inspectorate to enforce it.
"But I'll tell you where they're doing better than us. They have a very good informal economy, and that informal economy is soaked up probably anything up to 30% of their workforce.
“We don't have people that are entrepreneurial spirit and we don't encourage it, and we in fact discourage it by actually taking every informal job and then regulating them out of the park."
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