News24 reports that a full bench of the Pietermaritzburg High Court has found that rules for domestic workers at Mount Edgecombe Country Club Estate were repressive and reminiscent of the position the apartheid regime took.  

The court delivered a judgment in favour of Niemesh Singh, a resident at the KwaZulu-Natal estate, who challenged its domestic worker and road rules.  In terms of the estate’s rules, domestic workers are only allowed access to the estate between 08:00 and 18:00.  The rules also effectively state that domestic workers may not walk on roads in the estate and are only allowed to walk to designated bus stop points to be transported.  "Domestic workers are simply not free to traverse the public roads in the estate save in the limited manner provided by the rules.  From a constitutional point of view, their rights in this regard are severely restricted," the judgment indicated.  The court considered the rules to be unreasonable and unlawful, saying:  "The restrictive nature of these rules is… an affront to their (the employees’) fundamental rights to human dignity, equality, freedom of association, freedom of movement, freedom of occupation and fair labour practices."

• Read this report by Alex Mitchley in full at News24
• See too, Gated communities can’t enforce traffic laws‚ rules for domestic workers, at TimesLive

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page