Parliament To Increase the Salary of Its Cleaners, Waitstaff and Cooks to R28,300

• Parliament announced that its lowest-paid workers are expected to receive a salary increase
• As of 2026, they will earn over R28,000 thanks to the negotiations between the government and the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union
• South Africans had mixed feelings, as some supported the salary increase, and others said it would cost the government

Tebogo Mokwena, a Briefly News current affairs journalist in Johannesburg, South Africa, has covered policy changes, the State of the Nation Address, Parliament and Parliamentary committees, politician-related news and elections at Daily Sun and Vutivi Business News for over seven years.

PARLIAMENT — Parliament's waiters, waitresses, cleaners and cooks are expected to earn R28,600 by 2026.

Parliament increases salaries

According to BusinessTech, this group will earn R340,000 annually, an increase from R170,000. This means they earn more than teachers and police officers in the country. The National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) successfully engaged the government to improve their salaries.

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The workers were absorbed as permanent employees six years ago after years of being classified as temporary workers without the benefits of full-time employment. They started earning R14,166 monthly, and their salary will be doubled by March 2026. The increase is expected to be rolled out incrementally. They will get a 10% raise from next month, a 40% raise in April, and a 50% in 2026.

SA strongly disagrees

Netizens commenting on @BusinessTechSA's tweet voiced their disapproval.

View the tweet here:

MAPS said;

"This is nonsense. Already, the public wage bill is well over R700 billion, and we spend 10% of the GDP paying these high salaries."

KingTweetinKamalan said:

"That's because the cleaners are their family."

Dingiswayo kaNyambose said:

"That's total madness."

Vincent asked:

"Why only for Parliament workers? Why not all public workers? Why exclude police, emergency workers and medical staff?"

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Tsebiso said:

"We need a tax cut, and they keep increasing government expenses at our expense."

Nonkululeko said:

"Me as a cleaner earning more than a teacher is plain ridiculous."

Ministers' salaries increased

In a related article, Briefly News reported that the salaries of the government's high-ranking officials will increase.

Ministers' salaries will increase from R2,624,329 to R2,689,937. South Africans believed that they did not deserve the salary increases.

Source: Briefly News