‘Unsung heroines’ – legal victory for domestic workers in ConCourt

A Mpumalanga woman’s eight-year battle for justice after her domestic worker mother died on duty in 2012 finally came to a close yesterday when the Constitutional Court ruled she and others like her were entitled to claim from the Compensation Fund.

Last year, the High Court in Pretoria found the Compensation of Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act unconstitutional and invalid because it excluded domestic workers or their dependants from being able to claim from the Compensation Fund for work-related injuries, illnesses or deaths.

On Thursday, the Constitutional Court not only confirmed that finding, it also confirmed a finding that the order of invalidity should be retrospective to 27 April, 1994.

Acting Justice Margaret Victor said, in handing down the apex court’s majority judgment, that domestic workers were “unsung heroines”.

“They are a powerful group of women whose profession enables all economically active members of society to prosper and pursue their careers,” she said.

“Given the nature of their work, their relationships with their own children and family members are compromised, while we pursue our career goals with peace of mind, knowing our children, elderly family members and households are well taken care of.”

The judgment comes on the back of a case brought by Sylvia Mahlangu following the death of her mother, Maria, in 2012.

Mahlangu’s body was found floating in her employer’s swimming pool in 2012.

It later emerged that Mahlangu, partially blind and unable to swim, had lost her footing while cleaning windows, fell into the pool and drowned.

Sylvia had been entirely dependent on her mother and the death turned her life upside down.

But when she approached the department of labour, she was told she could not claim from the Compensation Fund because domestic workers were not recognised as employees in terms of the Act, prompting her to turn to the courts.

Victor said yesterday the exclusion of domestic workers from the protections under the Act meant that these individuals “for decades into our democracy had to bear work-related injuries or death without compensation”.

She said an order of invalidity against the Act would “contribute significantly towards repairing the pain and indignity suffered”.

Compensation Fund commissioner Vuyo Mafata said on Thursday his offices supported the inclusion of domestic workers as employees covered by the Act and that the amendment to facilitate this was currently before parliament.

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