Domestic worker claims she is treated unfairly
"I've worked for him for four years now, I work three days a week, but he has never registered me at the labour department for the Unemployment Insurance Fund and he doesn't allow me to eat lunch in his home," she said.
While the country celebrates Human Rights Day this month, Mpumalanga News learned that a number of domestic workers feel they are still faced with the oppression of the apartheid era.
One of them who recently visited the publication is Ms Thoko Zwane (whose name has been changed to protect her identity) says she has been a loyal employee since 1992, but received no increment, bonuses or the likes.
Zwane said she started working for the family in Boksburg doing their domestic chores and looking after their children. Years after her former employers relocated to Malalane she was asked to work for their son who is a businessman in Nelspruit. She accused him of unfair treatment compared to his parents and thought it was because of her skin colour.
• Minimum wage increases for domestic workers
“I’ve worked for him for four years now, I work three days a week, but he has never registered me at the labour department for the Unemployment Insurance Fund and he doesn’t allow me to eat lunch in his home, yet he gives me so little money,” she said. Thoko recently reported the matter to the Department of Labour, where documents were given to her for her employer’s signature, who had threatened to fire her and even reduced her salary.
“In January he cut my salary to R800 and expects me to pay my transport fee to and from work, lunch and take care of my family with this,” she said in tears.
