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GroundUp reports that the feeling expressed by several domestic workers at a dialogue for workers, unions and government representatives on matters affecting domestic workers, held on Wednesday, was that no one cared about them.
The dialogue was given the title, “Two Years after Mahlangu”, referring to the case of Mahlangu and Another v Minister of Labour and Others. In its ruling on the case in November 2020, the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) declared invalid a section of the Compensation for Occupation Injuries and Diseases Act (COIDA). The section had effectively excluded domestic workers employed in private households from claiming compensation for workplace injuries. The court order was made retrospective, allowing claims to be lodged by domestic workers (and dependants) who had experienced work-related injuries, diseases or death from 27 April 1994 onwards. Parliament sent the COIDA Amendment Bill to the President for assent in September 2022. Pinky Mashiane of the United Domestic Workers of SA (UDWOSA) urged President Cyril Ramaphosa to sign the COIDA amendment bill into law. According to Keitumetse Moutloatse of Black Women Caucus, in the two years since the Mahlangu victory, fewer than ten claims from domestic workers have been processed. She said the Labour Department needed to do more to educate employers and domestic workers, because many did not know about the ConCourt ruling. She also said that domestic workers might not report their injuries out of fear of intimidation or dismissal. “The [labour] department is making it very difficult for domestic workers to put in claims and benefit from the fund. They say the claim forms must be completed by employers,” she claimed.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Chris Gilili at GroundUp
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