Johannesburg - Domestic workers have pleaded with the government to send inspectors to their places of work so that they could see – and stop – the exploitation they were being subjected to.
The women and men gathered at Constitution Hill in Braamfontein, Joburg, on Thursday to air their grievances.
Despite the sector being governed by sectoral determinations which stipulate how much they should be paid, some said they were being underpaid and were not registered with the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) as required by law.
The gathering was organised by the Gauteng Department of Social Development to discuss issues affecting the workers in what is considered a vulnerable sector.
The minimum wage in major metropolitan areas is R2 065.47 a month. However, some of the domestic workers complained that they earned as little as R1 200.
“It’s not nice,” said domestic worker Cynthia Tshepe. “Women who walk from Freedom Park to Eldorado Park for work pass by the dumping site on their way home every day to rummage for food. Most of the time the food is rotten but the domestic workers are forced to scavenge because they have nothing else.”
She asked Gauteng MEC for Social Development Faith Mazibuko to see for herself the poverty they lived in.
The workers, mostly women in their 40s, said they had no choice but to accept the low salaries their employees paid because if they demanded the minimum wage, there were other people – especially foreigners – who were prepared to work for less.
They stressed that they were not xenophobic but rather that they faced serious challenges because their counterparts from Zimbabwe and Lesotho were willing to settle for far less.
Another domestic worker, who gave her name only as Thandi, said they were being mistreated because employers had nothing to lose.
“I work for three days a week and the money is little. I am also not registered with UIF. When you ask, they say the money is enough for you. If not, you must go,” Thandi said, adding that she and others grappled with the continuously increasing cost of living.
Deputy Minister of Labour Inkosi Phathekile Holomisa encouraged domestic workers to learn to fight for their rights and report employers who were not compliant.
However, given the workers’ requests that the government intervene to improve their situation, it was doubtful they believed they were capable of improving the situation by themselves.
Researcher Xoliswa Dilata said her study into the dynamics of domestic work in Soweto indicated that the most exploited group within the sector was live-in workers. Her thesis’s findings were supported by the domestic workers who gathered at the meeting.
They applauded when she said they found live-in helpers had no knock-off times and were under-compensated.
Holomisa said his department was working on a draft bill to extend the benefits of the compensation for occupational injury and diseases for domestic work.
The introduction of such a law would likely receive support from all quarters of society, leaving compliance as the only stumbling block in its implementation as proved by other such laws.
The Star