A Research Report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Art in Political Studies, Johannesburg, 2017Despite their long history of organising, South African domestic workers are deprived of a
platform to organise due to the post-apartheid state positioning itself as the primary articulator,
representative, and protector of domestic workers‟ collective interests and the resultant
displacement of the domestic workers‟ union in these roles. Even at its peak, the union struggled
to rally domestic workers around its cause. The shift from “live-in” domestic work to “live-out”
domestic work provides workers with greater personal freedom and less isolation from friends
and family; allows them to gain some control over their working conditions and; challenges the
“atomised” nature of domestic work as domestic workers interact quite frequently with each
other in spaces such as taxis and buses, taxi ranks and street corners as they go about travelling
to and from work every day.
Domestic workers‟ engagement in the everyday practice of commuting to work and the spaces
where domestic workers regularly interact with each other allow for the appearance of social
networks where grievances can be shared and rallied around; mutual support is given and;
information regarding work can be obtained. Significantly, these social networks are integral to
the formation of collective identities and the building of political subjectivities of domestic
workers, who as a group are deprived of a platform to organise.
Furthermore a fuller conception of political action needs to be adopted. Domestic workers,
who are without resources and the leadership of a vital union, find themselves in a position of
political marginalization; yet participate in everyday forms of resistance. These coupled with
their engagement in everyday life, constitute the invisible face of political mobilization. The
social networks that have appeared show promise, however they are under-developed and
have not yet been formalised in a way that organised action can ensue. As such it is possible
that organisational impetus will have to come from the efforts of middle class actors
belonging to NGOs, activists and government agencies as has been experienced in other parts
of the globe.MT201
