{"id":884276,"date":"2026-11-15T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-15T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=884276"},"modified":"2026-11-13T16:55:07","modified_gmt":"2026-11-13T14:55:07","slug":"households-and-their-domestic-workers-are-in-trouble-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/884276\/households-and-their-domestic-workers-are-in-trouble-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Households and their domestic workers are in trouble in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South African households are struggling to afford domestic help as rising living costs, stagnant salaries, and pressure on disposable income take their toll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pressure is being felt on both sides of the domestic work sector, with employers cutting back on cleaning, gardening, and other household services, while workers struggle to find enough work to support their families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lourandi Kriel, CEO of domestic services platform SweepSouth, said rising fuel prices, electricity costs, municipal rates, food prices and interest rates were squeezing household budgets, particularly among middle-income earners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an interview with Cape Talk<\/a>, Kriel said fewer households had disposable income available for domestic assistance, which was increasingly being treated as a luxury rather than an essential service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to SweepSouth’s research, the number of households able to afford some form of domestic work has fallen from approximately 1.2 million before the Covid-19 pandemic to around 800,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The figure initially dropped to 850,000 after the pandemic, then declined further to 815,000, eventually reaching its current level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe see the pressure on households in South Africa. They book less, they book fewer hours, less frequently, they tip less,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The consequences have been significant for workers, and Kriel estimated that the domestic services sector has lost approximately 33% of its jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said the impact was particularly concerning because many domestic workers were financially responsible for several other people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt’s 33% jobs lost. They each look after five dependents. 82% of domestic workers are breadwinners, so it is, I almost want to say, it’s a disaster,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The changing affordability of domestic services has also shifted SweepSouth’s customer base away from middle-income households towards wealthier customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur market has also shifted from middle class to upper, upper middle class. The middle class can’t afford luxuries anymore, so the upper middle class are still our target market, but we do see how they are eroding,\u201d Kriel said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Salaries are dropping, and there are more cases of exploitation <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Kriel said salary increases that were previously around 8% to 10% had slowed to approximately 3.5% to 4% in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Changes in working arrangements have also affected demand, with more people working from home and taking on household chores themselves to reduce expenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gloria Kente, organiser at the South African Domestic Service and Allied Workers Union (SADSAWU), said the job losses were particularly concerning given the number of women in the sector who support entire families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe union is very concerned about these job losses because many of the workers who are working in the domestic sector are women, and they are the breadwinners at home,\u201d she said in a separate interview with 702<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey are feeding their families, and also the grandmothers are feeding the grandchildren. So that is why Sadsawu has got concern about these job losses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kente said the government needed to address rising prices, which were putting pressure on employers and workers alike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat our government can do is look at these high prices that are affecting people. It’s not only affecting the employers, but it’s also affecting the workers, because the workers are depending on the salaries that they are getting paid from their employers,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also raised concerns about the growing use of digital platforms that connect domestic workers with households, arguing that workers could be left without adequate labour protections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said workers had approached the union with complaints about their treatment by some clients, highlighting the need for clearer protections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kente said the union wanted domestic workers to be recognised as employees and protected against exploitation, regardless of how they found work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kriel said SweepSouth was attempting to address some of these challenges by ensuring transparent pay and checking workers’ eligibility to work in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The platform pays workers 21% above the legislated minimum wage, which she said had helped attract more applicants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe pay 21% above minimum wage. What we do see is an increase in workers applying to our platform, and one of the main reasons is that pay is transparent. They know exactly what they’re going to earn,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The domestic services sector in South Africa has lost approximately 33% of its jobs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":869249,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2121937769899389067","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2274429936710738","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18657981364041216","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[853,27129,1809,11041],"class_list":["post-884276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-south-africa","tag-south-african-domestic-service-and-allied-workers-union-sadsawu","tag-stats-sa","tag-sweepsouth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=884276"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884276\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":884284,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884276\/revisions\/884284"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/869249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=884276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=884276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=884276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}