Regularising Labour Migration of Zimbabwean Domestic Workers in South Africa

The number of Zimbabwean women migrating to South Africa has increased in the post-apartheid years. Excluded from more closely regulated pursuits, many are employed as domestic workers. Their movements and labour are in principle protected by regional, transnational and national migration protocols and local policies regulating conditions for domestic workers. In practice these offer little: while they are able to sustain their livelihoods, without the necessary freedom to legally establish residence and accrue social security benefits, their employment remains precarious. Without such rights, they are subject to exploitation and economic precarity. At the same time it is important to acknowledge the benefits for Zimbabwean women who do find employment (albeit that for many this employment may be precarious) in South Africa and who are able to sustain a circulatory migration pattern that affords them the means to sustain their households in Zimbabwe or in South Africa. This policy brief outlines the key findings of the study and the complexities these suggest for advocacy and policy. It makes recommendations for the Department of Labour and Department of Home Affairs to consider in the development of their upcoming Labour Migration Draft Policy Framework. It also makes recommendations to the implementation and monitoring of the SADC Protocol on the Facilitation of Movement of Persons (2005) and the SADC Portability of Accrued Social Security Benefits Draft Policy Framework (2016).