Newspapers, magazines, radio and podcasts have asked us about employing a domestic worker since May 2026. Here is each piece, what it covered, and a link to the original. Where a figure has changed since, or was reported differently, the current one is underneath.
The Afrikaans run of YOU magazine's advice feature, issue of 8 October 2026, p.38: the one-day-a-week worker and UIF (WVF), an injury at home, the sick day, and why paying by EFT is not a payslip (salarisstrokie).
Peter answers four questions: does a worker who comes one day a week need UIF, what happens if she is injured at home, how to handle a sick day, and why an EFT is not a payslip. In print on 1 October 2026, pp.40 to 41.
Current: COIDA is 1.04% of her yearly wages, never less than R560 per household. R560 is the minimum, not a cap. One 8-hour day a week is about 34.7 hours a month (weekly hours times 4⅓).
Four rules for households: UIF for part-time workers, COIDA registration and the yearly assessment, sick leave kept separate from annual leave, and why a bank transfer is not a payslip.
Current: UIF applies from 24 hours or more a month with that employer. A sick note can be asked for after more than two days off in a row, or after more than two sick absences in eight weeks.
Peter on how AskMandla started: a labour lawyer's contract app, the decision that domestic employment admin had to run on WhatsApp rather than an app, and the months of running it by hand before any of it was automated.
Why a monthly payslip matters to a domestic worker: proof of income for a bank account, a loan or a lease.
Current: We submit the UIF application; the Department of Employment and Labour registers her.
Janine on the legal obligations that apply however close the household feels to its worker: the minimum wage, UIF, a written contract and payslips, and what a fair wage looks like above the floor.
Current: UIF applies from 24 hours or more a month. The full-time minimum for 40 hours a week is R5,239.87 a month (R30.23 an hour times 40 hours times 4⅓).
Janine answers five questions: the R30.23 minimum wage, what UIF pays a worker on maternity leave, why a contract and payslips protect both sides, and why COIDA applies even under 24 hours a month.
Current: UIF applies from 24 hours or more a month. The full-time minimum for 40 hours a week is R5,239.87 a month.
Peter on POWER Business with Nosipho Radebe: how few domestic workers are registered for UIF, and what UIF does for a worker when her job ends.
Current: The minimum wage and COIDA apply at any hours. UIF, the written contract, payslips, leave and notice start at 24 hours a month with that employer.
Peter on the minimum wage and what a fair wage for a domestic worker looks like.
Current: The minimum wage is R30.23 an hour from 1 March 2026: R1,209.20 for a 40-hour week, or R1,360.35 for 45 hours. The 2027 rate has not been set.
A two-page feature (pp.6 to 7) on how AskMandla began and what it does: contracts, payroll, payslips and UIF admin on WhatsApp.
Current: We submit the UIF application; the Department of Employment and Labour registers her. The price is R450 once-off and R49 a month, per worker.
A feature on recognising domestic work as real work, and helping households do right by the person who works in their home.
How households use AskMandla on WhatsApp for contracts, UIF, payroll and payslips, with records kept in case of a dispute, and why the people raising children and running homes are employees.
Current: AskMandla began operating in early 2025 and was incorporated on 15 May 2025. As of 11 September 2026 it had processed more than R8 million in gross wages and issued more than 1,500 payslips. The price is R450 once-off and R49 a month, per worker.
The basics every household employer needs, none of them new: a contract and payslips, UIF, COIDA and the minimum wage, and why so many households stay informal.
Current: UIF applies from 24 hours or more a month with that employer. The full guide: how to register your domestic worker for UIF.
Peter on The Clement Manyathela Show: what it takes to regularise a domestic worker, and COIDA, the obligation most households miss.
Current: COIDA is 1.04% of her yearly wages, never less than R560 per household (about R654 for a full-timer on the minimum wage). The price is R450 once-off and R49 a month, per worker.
AskMandla was one of three companies selected for Ninety One's 2026 Accelerator, run with Endeavor South Africa. Also reported by Endeavor South Africa (10 June) and IT-Online (11 June).
Ean on Views & News with Saskia Falken, on what a household needs in place when it employs a domestic worker.
How AskMandla, based in Stellenbosch, runs contracts, UIF admin and digital payslips on WhatsApp, and how a payslip gives a worker a financial identity.
Current: Ean Barnard is AskMandla's co-founder and Chief Growth Officer. Stats SA counted 831,000 domestic workers in the June 2026 quarter.
Peter on building AskMandla on WhatsApp, and why small businesses such as cafés and sports clubs use it alongside households.
Current: AskMandla does not lend money. Earned wage access lets a worker draw pay she has already earned, before payday, for a fee shown before she confirms.
How AskMandla grew out of Janine Kane-Berman's contract app, SheshaLawZA, and moved to WhatsApp, and how the business earns from a monthly subscription and financial services for workers.
Current: AskMandla began operating in early 2025 and was incorporated on 15 May 2025.
AskMandla's model for households: contracts, UIF admin, payslips and earned wage access, on WhatsApp.
Current: COIDA is a yearly assessment, not a monthly payment. The price is R450 once-off and R49 a month, per worker.
For media enquiries, contact us. Our own analysis of the news about domestic employment is in the guides library.
Minimum per the National Minimum Wage Act, as at 1 March 2026. Days of less than 4 hours are paid as 4 (the 4-hour rule). Monthly = weekly × 52 ÷ 12. Guidance, not legal advice.
UIF is 1% + 1% up to the R17,712/month ceiling. You top up your wallet by the 22nd; they are paid on the 25th. Figures as at 1 March 2026.
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