Domestic workers fall through the cracks of South Africa's broken UIF system

SOUTH Africa is one of the most sophisticated countries on the continent when it comes to digital finance.

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DOMESTIC work might be conducted in the private space, but it remains one of the most essential and undervalued forms of labour in South Africa, says the author.

(PABALLO THEKISO Independent Newspapers)

We file our taxes through Sars eFiling, register our companies online, move money between banks and accounts in seconds, and pay for goods with QR codes, tap-to-pay and banking apps.

Yet when workers, in particular domestic staff who are among the most vulnerable workers in the country, become unemployed, they still have to jump through hoops, submit paper forms, stand in queues at Department of Labour centres, and wait months for a Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) payment that might never come.

Domestic work might be conducted in the private space, but it remains one of the most essential and undervalued forms of labour in South Africa.

Sweepsouth’s 2025 Report on Domestic Worker Pay and Working Conditions shows that domestic work comprises about 4.9% of total employment and 10.5% of women’s employment nationally.

Among the surveyed workers, nearly two out of three domestic workers in South Africa are Zimbabwean nationals, though the report notes this is not necessarily representative of the wider sector.