There is a massive gap between the rich and the poor in South Africa.

I had a discussion with my friend Xoli the other day about the standard of living across different individuals in our beautiful country. And, I quickly noticed for many, these things we take for granted are things that a lot of people simply do not have.

I started to wonder about walking in Xoli's shoes for a day and I thought about all the lovely individuals that raise our children, run our house, wash our clothes and make our life easier on a daily basis. These unsung heroes that work their fingers to the bone to give us those precious extra hours every evening to focus on other things like watching a movie, working a few extra hours or going to a wine tasting class with a famous French wine guy called Pee Pee Lapew (You get the point).

So I did some research and found that the minimum salary of these tireless Domestic workers is set at a measly R2545 a month for workers working more than 27 hours a week (and up to 45 hours in some instances). I started thinking, what can one buy with R2545 a month? So I broke it down into 3 main categories of needs.

The first thing I thought about was, how does one get to work? So I asked Xoli, "Xoli, what time do you wake up every morning to get to work?" She responded "I need to be out of the house by 4am to catch 2 taxis to be able to make it to work before 6am". I thought, well that sounds tiring, 2 hours of travelling before you get to work and that includes a full day of manual work before having to catch another 2 taxis to get home by 6 or 7pm. Transport for this can cost R14 one way on a daily basis which makes a total of R28 a day or R560 a month (on a 20 day work month).

The second thing I thought about was where does one live? One has to live somewhere, right? If this is not in an out house at an employer, one still has to have somewhere to call home. Let’s take it from a view of an individual renting a shack. This can cost up to R250 a month, this doesn’t take into account the state and dangers of living in an area like this or coming and going from said place.

The last thing I considered was that everyone has to eat. I am not talking about your double thick yogurt from Woolies or your fresh thick cut sirloin from Jan the butcher. I am talking about your average budget foods such as: pap, pasta, rice, noodles, beans (in brine or tomato sauce), fish (pilchards, tuna or sardines), potatoes, assorted bulk chicken, as well as basic toiletries and household cleaning products. This could come to an average of R1300 a month for 1 person eating 2 – 3 times a day.

That makes a grand total of R2110 expenses for an individual and a total of R435 for free spending money which would usually go to buying other basics like clothes, shoes etc... A lot of the time, there is family involved, money that needs to go home to support a child, mother, father etc…

This led me to think about the future, and how one can save for the future? How can you survive when you get to the ripe old age of 70 and your body doesn't work like it used to? Well the fact is, Some can't save and have to live on hopes that someone will support them cause one cannot save when one is living each day to make ends meet.

Now, I know what you’re thinking, Sure, R2545 a month is not a lot (Or enough) to live on but it is all an employer can afford, cause that is all that is in the budget. Right? Wrong, if you can afford to have a domestic that makes your life that much easier, you can afford to not go out one weekend, you can afford to not have that extra piece of steak, you can afford to buy cheaper brands in order to give a better salary to those who assist your life in such a magnificent way.

We need to look at bridging the gap between the low income consumers and average/high income consumers so we can all live to an acceptable standard. There is enough to go around, there is enough cake to share, let’s not give the crumbs to people who deserve a slice.

To conclude my thoughts on this subject, I see Xoli smiling with a positive outlook on life in her new job and she is hitting new highs. You'd never say she has troubles, she chooses to be positive and did so even when times were tough. She sees things with optimism even though life is hard. I guess that my message today is twofold:

1. Take your problems with a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of cement. Analyze it and work your way out of it logically. We can never see the sun when we are in the storm but keep pushing. Where there is a will there is a way.
2. Help others when you are in a position to help them. Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, it's at the end of your arm, as you get older, remember you have another hand: The first is to help yourself, the second is to help others.

Have a great day everyone.