Domestic worker abuse shock

GORY details of alleged sexual assault and dehumanisation of a domestic worker from the affluent Silver Lakes area in Pretoria have emerged.

The leafy suburb is home to rich and influential people in business and sport, and home prices in the area are tagged at R3 million or more.

The shocking claims of the sexual assault of a 42-year-old Zimbabwean woman living in South Africa illegally have shaken political bigwigs, and the South African Federation of Trade Union leader Zwelinzima Vavi.

Vavi wants the police to swiftly act against the perpetrators, a family of Saudi Arabian origin, living in Silver Lakes.

The woman began working there in 2019, but her troubles, according to the United Domestic Workers of South Africa (UDWSA), began in 2020.

The police who are investigating the matter, heard last week that during her employment, the employee was overworked and underpaid. The employer would allegedly make her work every day, including public holidays.

The police also heard that her employer did not recognise public holidays because, “there were too many”.

The women told the police that from 2020 to June 21, 2022, she had been called on numerous occasions by her female employer (name withheld) to her bedroom while her family was not home.

According to the victim, she would find her employer in her bedroom with warmed olive oil, which she was told to apply on her private parts.

She claimed her employer would close windows and curtains and lock the door or tell her to lock it. She would then undress and lie on the bed for her to perform forced sexual actvity.

he woman alleged that her employers’ son (whose name is also withheld) allegedly knocked on her door in the early hours of the morning last year, and, when she asked who it was, he said he was looking for water.

UDWSA president Pinky Mashiane said the victim couldn’t sleep after that and went to clean the house.

“After that the son followed her to her room and spanked her, but she pushed him out,” Mashiane said.

The police heard that between September and October last year, the entire family left Pretoria for Saudi Arabia on holiday and the father returned home alone.

Mashiane said: “The father called her that evening after his arrival, when she entered his room he switched off the lights and went naked behind her, pulled her clothes up and made sexual moves from behind without penetrating her while holding her tightly.

“Then he released his sperms and wiped himself with a tissue and tried to wipe her where he had messed her up, she pushed his hands and ran out to her room,” Mashiane said.

Mashiane condemned the “gross human rights violation” of the domestic worker: “This behaviour and abuse of power by these individuals called employers will not go unchallenged. .”

Mashiane said at 5am on the July 11, 2022, the domestic worker was told to wash the walls of the mansion in Silver Lakes and after that told to leave her room and premises because the employers said they were going to their country. She finished packing outside the room.

“They exploited her, sexually abused her, ditched and dumped her at last on the August 24, 2022.

“We have taken her unfair dismissal case to CCMA and opened a sexual harassment case at Pretoria Central Police Station, which was transferred to Boschkop Police Station, and we will make sure that she gets justice,” Mashiane said.

Independent Media understands the alleged perpetrators have since engaged the services of a new domestic worker, despite promising the victim that they would call her upon their return from Saudi Arabia.

Vavi said: “The employers should not be let free; the husband and wife who employed her must be fined and sentenced to prison in accordance with correct legal prescripts that deal with sexual assault.”