The single-room tin homes of South Africa’s 500+ townships are testaments to the radical inequality that remains as a legacy of Apartheid, South Africa’s past oppressive system of government which enforced racial segregation. Almost 30 years post-Apartheid, South African wealth distribution is still vastly unequal. The various attempts to redistribute wealth have created a slightly more diverse yet still highly exclusive upper economic echelon which excludes the vast majority of the population. Adding on to the concerning economic and social status of South Africa, jobs are scarce with the unemployment rate at around 43% and people are desperate.
Consequently, any work is coveted by those trapped in poverty, and competition for job slots is immense. This desperation facilitates the exploitation of economically disadvantaged South Africans, and the rendering of labour laws null and void. There are three major reasons for this: the desperation of the workers, the wage of labour, and the weak South African government.
Firstly, in South Africa, there are a number of labour laws meant to implement a meaningful minimum wage and protect menial labour workers. However, a vast number of labourers are desperate enough to work for anything and as a result, the sanctity of labour laws is largely non-existent. Many workers will accept short-term work which brings in cash quickly, but are not sustainable jobs. As such, employers don’t feel the same level of responsibility for the wellbeing of their employees, and often get away with underpaying and overworking individuals.
Secondly, there is an issue surrounding the culture of menial labour in South Africa - there is a running joke among immigrants from first world countries that labour is “free”, because the comparative price of having three full time domestic workers barely begins to reach the cost of hiring an au-pair to watch your children for a week in the US. Consequently, almost all South African middle and upper class households will employ at least one full time worker to do tasks from cleaning the house to raising the children. These low standards of payment for domestic workers and with a set minimum wage of R23.19 (less than $1.40), has made it very difficult to reshape salaries for South African manual labourers. As a result, escaping poverty is highly unlikely and extremely hard for workers, even with a full-time job.
Finally, the South African government has largely failed in the implementation of labour laws. The South African justice system fails frequently, making it one of the crime capitals of the world. Additionally, government efficiency is significantly hindered by endemic corruption, which fuels policy decisions that are often more advantageous for government officials than they are for citizens. Consequently, mistreatment of employees and strong-arming employees into silence to disincentivize legal action and accountability has become the norm, and the mechanisms in place designed to deal with this are often inaccessible or ineffective.
Worker rights in South Africa, while somewhat enshrined in law, have been forgotten or abused in practice, an issue which has existed for much of South Africa’s dark history and remains as a part of the legacy of a deeply divided state. The path forward for South Africa is a long one, and will require a shift in the way the country views labour and values upliftment of disadvantaged communities.
Sources:
https://www.news24.com/fin24/opinion/opinion-labour-law-for-domestic-workers-explained-20220510.
Written by Frankie Lewittton
Edited by: Sophia Huang
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