New minimum wage for cleaning sector

Johannesburg - The minimum wage for South Africa's contract cleaning sector has risen to R16.98 per hour in metropolitan and local council areas, the labour department said on Wednesday.

"The new minimum wage will be binding with effect from January 6, 2015 to November 30, 2015," Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant's spokesperson Mokgadi Pela said in a statement.

The metropoles include the cities of Cape Town, Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg, Tshwane, and Nelson Mandela Bay. The councils include Emfuleni, Merafong, Mogale City, Metsimaholo, Randfontein, Stellenbosch, and Westonaria.

Pela said the minimum rate in rural areas increased to R15.47 per hour, from R14.19 in 2013/14.

Pela said in semi-urban areas rates would be prescribed by the KwaZulu-Natal Contract Cleaning Bargaining Council. He was unable to immediately say what that figure was.