Senior social worker of iThemba, Jath van der Westhuizen, offers the following safety tips during National Home Security Month.
These tips follow the rape of a domestic worker on June 13 on Shakespeare Street, in Farrarmere, after the suspect jumped a wall and raped her in the outside bathroom before making off with her cellphone.
Van der Westhuizen has the following advice for domestic helpers:
• Never open your door to strangers. Rather install and use a peephole
• Ask for proper identification from delivery persons or strangers
• Never tell someone who phones that you are alone or when your employer will return. Instead, tell the caller that your employer is busy and will call back, and take a message
• Identify a safe place to hide in the house (a room) from where you can make an emergency call if someone breaks in
• Don’t go to the gate when someone presses the intercom button or calls. Instead, talk over the intercom or through a window from inside the house
• Always keep the security gate and door keys on you when leaving the house
• When hanging up or bringing in the laundry go back into the house quickly and lock the door
• If there is a panic button, carry it at all times – preferably where it is not visible.
Further advice for the employee:
• Whenever possible, walk with other domestic workers to a train or taxi stop
• Don’t talk to other domestic staff about your employer’s working hours, holidays, home security or valuables
“Despite having the best possible safety measures in place, criminals still gain entry to properties,” van der Westhuizen said.
“Should a domestic worker’s safety be violated, employers can bring the victim to iThemba for free counselling and trauma support.”
Ekurhuleni Central Cluster SAPS spokesperson Capt Nomsa Sekele also provided a few safety tips to prevent any traumatising incidents from occurring:
• Don’t let anyone on to the property if the owner of the property has not informed you about the visit
• If someone does say that they were sent by the owner, contact the owner to confirm this before letting the person in
• Keep the gate locked at all times
• Have emergency numbers in plain sight (on the fridge) in the event of an emergency
• Property owners must inform their domestic helper or whoever is at home if someone is going to stop by
• Domestic helpers must get to know their fellow domestic helpers in the area so that, in the event of an emergency, they can call someone who is nearby for assistance.
iThemba is based on the corner of Woburn Avenue and Kimbolton Street, in Western Extension.
To make an appointment call 011 422 4107.
