how much ?

let’s get this out there now. We have a domestic to help us here in South Africa. After 33 years of marriage and having no paid help to assist us run our household and family and lots of visitors and Erin working full time we NOW have a domestic. Our old house was a 5-bedroom large house and we now live in a very comfortable 3 room Wendy house. 

We have a lovely lady who helps us keep the house in order. not long after we arrived she came and asked if we had any work as she had a spare day and would like to be working, so we said yes. We were unsure what she was going to do in such a small house, but it is working fine. She comes to us each Wednesday, she is quiet as a mouse and listens to Jacaranda FM on the radio as she puts our house in lovely tidy order.   

The reason I write about this is because I just found out what the minimum working hourly rate is for a domestic here in South Africa . But before that to give you that  something to contrast it to, the National Living Wage in the UK is about £7.83 per hour, I believe.  

The Minimum wages for domestic workers in South Africa who work more than 27 and up to 45 ordinary hours per week are as follows.

Area A – Major metropolitan areas

§  Hourly rate :   R13.05      = 72p

§  Weekly rate:   R587.40     = 32.63 

§  Monthly rate:  R2 545.22   = 141.40

Now there will be some out there that know me well and think this dyslexic poorly educated non-mathematician has got his sums wrong.

But I have checked it with my office buddies and they agree R13.05, so with an exchange rate of R18 to the UK £ that is 72p per hour. After seeing that 72p I thought I might get another two because domestics that is SOOO cheap.

Well no I am not getting more help and to be serous for a moment: how do you send a child to school on 72p? how do you pay for food on 72p? how do you have any dignity on 72p an hour? As I have recorded earlier in a blog the unemployment rate in this district where we live is over 40% .

Well I suppose at this point you asking I wonder how much he pays his domestic? Well I’m not going to tell you now. But those who support us financially will know in the new year as we endeavor to be more accountable to those who share our vision.

But for all those who know us well and have shared our values will know 72P is the legal requirement and Erin and I are people of the Spirit not the letter of the law.