Like in Verwoerdian South Africa, blacks will now have to produce identity documents to enter a suburb.
On Tuesday, domestic workers in the posh suburb of Hurlingham Manor, north of Johannesburg, were lined up to have their photographs taken for access cards that will allow them entry into the area.
Five domestic workers who work in the suburb said the access cards were repression in the name of safety.
But Debbie Bell, a member of the residents' committee, said the domestic workers had in fact requested the cards.
Nthatisi Modingoane, spokesperson for Johannesburg executive mayor Amos Masondo, said it would be illegal if the domestic workers had been forced to have access cards.
"It is a violation of their rights, and they should have legal recourse."