My name is Myrtle Witbooi and I am from South Africa. We (the South African Domestic Service and Allied Workers Union) are the only domestic workers' union in South Africa. The union was founded by domestic workers and former domestic workers that decided they have had enough of the exploitation and came together to form their own union. Basically, the union was founded during the Apartheid years, when domestic workers had no voice. We could not even answer to the master, we had to obey to everything we were told to do.
It took us another 40 years to get actual labour laws in South Africa. At that point in South Africa, a domestic worker was earning like $3 or €3 a month and had no rights. You know, it was a terrible experience to live in South Africa as a domestic worker during the Apartheid years, because we had no freedom. But we are women, and we are very strong. And if we can do the work in the house, we can also think for ourselves. So we decided to stand up and we decided to talk about why we are different than other workers and that slowly started a shift in South Africa.
Over the years, we have managed to reach about 50 000 domestic workers. And then in 1994, there was democracy in South Africa, but there were still no rights for domestic workers. So we decided to challenge our democratic government. In 2001, we asked our government: "Why are there no laws for domestic workers?" And then we actually went into parliament for the first time, we talked to them, and my question to them was: "We were fighting together for this freedom, so why must I now stand in front of you and beg you for labour laws for domestic workers?"
