‘Pay domestic workers R3 000’

DOMESTIC workers must be paid at least R3 000 a month, Parliament’s portfolio committee on labour heard yesterday. “Domestic workers must be paid a minimum of R3 000 because most of them are single parents,” Mpho Maine, a participant, told the committee’s public hearing in Rustenburg. Maine said the amount would enable domestic workers to support their families and afford their transport. She said some domestic workers were paid as little as R600 a month. The domestic sectoral determination, which regulates payments in the domestic sector, stipulates that domestic workers in towns such as Rustenburg must earn at least R1 800. About 300 workers from different sectors gathered in Rustenburg to make submissions on minimum wages to the committee. The committee held public hearings in Matlosana, Klerksdorp, on Tuesday. Public hearings were expected to be held in Johannesburg today and in Bloemfontein tomorrow. – Sapa