RAPED, insulted and harassed, domestic workers are indispensable in thousands of homes around the country, yet they are often victims of crime at the hands of the people they serve.
The South African Domestic Service and Allied Workers Union (Sadsawu) said many of their members were too afraid to speak out against these abuses, fearing they could lose their jobs.
This week the Socio-Economic Rights Institute (SERI) said low salaries were one of the workers’ main concerns and linked to that, the poor conditions in which they have to work.
“Some employers really mistreat domestic workers by making them work unpaid overtime, not allowing domestic workers to take leave or days off, shouting at them and the like,” said Thulani Nkosi, a senior attorney at SERI.
“Our clients inform us that sexual assault and other forms of physical assaults are common in their environment so they tell us it is just a matter of time before we see those types of cases coming in,” he said.
Nkosi said they had intensified their focus on matters affecting domestic workers since the Mahlangu v The Minister of Labour court case.
Maria Mahlangu was a partially blind domestic worker who drowned while working at a home in Pretoria in 2021 when she fell and landed in the pool. Mahlangu’s employer was at home at the time but apparently only found her body hours later.
The Department of Labour told Mahlangu’s daughter Sylvia that she wasn’t entitled to compensation because domestic workers were not covered by the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act (COIDA).
SERI, with South African Domestic Service and Allied Workers Union (Sadsawu) as the second applicant, took the case on and in 2019 the North Gauteng High Court ruled that the exclusion of domestic workers from COIDA was unconstitutional and that the judgment must be applied retrospectively.
Sadsawu estimates there are 800 000 domestic workers in the country and says despite advances in their conditions of employment, many women were still paid below the legal R27.58 per hour.
Sadsawu’s Durban organiser Thuli Maphumulo said many domestic workers were not aware they could, or were too afraid to, join the union to ask for the minimum wage or even take a lunch break.
“Without a domestic worker, the economy of South Africa could be very poor. These people are the engines of the house; of their house and of the employer’s house. We urge employers to respect domestic workers and to treat them well.”
She said many workers travelled up to three hours by taxi to get to work and their earnings barely covered their expenses, with most domestic workers relying on loan sharks to put food on the table.
Gloria Kente from Sadsawu in the Western Cape said after almost 10 years they were relieved that a man from Newcastle in KZN was sent to jail for raping a domestic worker.
“We were so excited because the employer raped the domestic worker then threatened the domestic worker”, saying “if you talk about these things, I will do something to you". Kente said justice was served after a long battle.
According to Stats SA ‘s Gender Series Volume XI: Women Empowerment 2014–2024, released on Thursday, in 2014, 96% of domestic workers were female, dipping slightly to 95.7 % in 2024.
The International Labour Organization says globally 75.6 million people over the age of 14 are employed as domestic workers, and 76.2% are women.
It states that while domestic workers provide essential services, they rarely have access to rights and protection and are vulnerable to violence and harassment and restrictions on freedom of movement.
“Around 81% are in informal employment – that’s twice the share of informal employment among other employees. They also face some of the most strenuous working conditions. They earn 56% of average monthly wages of other employees, and are more likely than other workers to work either very long or very short hours,” the ILO said.
SweepSouth, the online platform which connects domestic workers with new clients, does an annual survey among domestic workers in South Africa to gauge the industry.
SweepSouth COO Luke Kannemeyer said a comparison between the 2023 and 2024 results showed a stabilisation in the recovery of employment within the domestic work sector, with minimal changes in the total number employed between quarters in 2024.
“However, this is still a 15% reduction compared with pre-pandemic levels, meaning around 125 000 jobs have been lost, with KZN making up a disproportionate number of job losses in 2024.”
Kannemeyer said domestic workers still carried “immense financial responsibility” which was worrying given the high number of job losses.
He said women formed the bulk of domestic workers, most of them between the ages of 26 and 41. South African and Zimbabwean nationals comprised the majority of respondents (37% and 59% respectively), playing a vital role as breadwinners (83%) while the average number of dependants remained high at four, said Kannemeyer.
“Shockingly, 22% of surveyed domestic workers reported experiencing verbal or physical abuse at work while 5.4% felt unsafe working in their employer’s home, and 27% reported sometimes feeling unsafe,” he said.