A row is brewing between an employer and her domestic employee, which has led to the matter being reported to the police, but without any resolve.
This follows the employer accusing the domestic worker of assaulting her child, this past Monday, (September 20), on the very same day she was employed. Rookaya Azam, a resident living on Laudium’s once very prestigious 5th Avenue, told the Laudium Sun, “I interviewed a new domestic worker, Melinda, last Sunday and she seemed acceptable. Thus I told her to start on Monday, as my long-employed domestic worker had gone back to Zimbabwe. My cousin referred the new domestic to me, as her own domestic worker knew her. Therefore, both my cousin and I trusted her, as her reference was good. So, on Monday, when I went to work in Marabastad, my daughter, who is in high school, left for school and Melinda was all alone with my grandmother. Before I left, I explained to Melinda what her duties were, including cleaning the rooms. But, when my daughter came back from school in the afternoon, she found the house in a mess and enquired from Melinda what the problem was, as none of the rooms were cleaned, nor were any of the dishes washed. My daughter told me that at first she thought that Melinda may not have been well, but when she spoke to her, she was shocked at her behavior, as Melinda became aggressive towards her, without any provocation from my daughter’s side. My daughter tried calling me, but Melinda did not allow her to use her phone and then, according to my daughter, Melinda threatened to hit her and when my daughter asked her why she was becoming violent, she suddenly assaulted my daughter, by hitting her on her head and her face. My daughter thereafter immediately called me and I rushed back home, but Melinda was not there. My daughter said that Melinda demanded to be paid R150 for the day or else she would kill her. Out of fear my daughter paid her from her own monthly pocket money. I was shocked to find my daughter’s nose swollen and she was in a lot of pain. The whole night she had a severe headache also and could not sleep as she was extremely traumatized. I went to the police station with my daughter to open a case against Melinda, who is also from Zimbabwe, but the police did not want to help us at all. They told us that my daughter was still in school and that it would affect her mentally by going to court and giving evidence. But then, it seems like someone from the police tipped Melinda off that I went to the police and the next thing Melinda was allowed to open a case against my daughter and accused my daughter of pushing and assaulting her. Just look at the size of my daughter and look at the size of Melinda. How is it even possible that my daughter could push her, never mind assault her. I felt completely let down by the police and by my new domestic worker, Melinda. I felt her so sorry when she came on Sunday for an interview. She appeared so respectful and seemed to be shy and now look how dangerous she turned out to be.”
In response, Zimbabwean national, Melinda Sibanda told the Laudium Sun, “I started working at 5th Ave, today (20th September), as a domestic worker. When the mother went to work and the daughter went to school, I was cleaning and putting things in order the whole day. I did my job very well. But, when the daughter came back from school, she started acting like a shining princess, bullying me and telling me I did not do this and did not do that, and that I’m useless and do not know my job. I was very hurt but I ignored her as I needed the job. But, she continued and then grabbed me by my clothes and pushed me towards the wall. I told her, I’m too old for her and I will beat her to death if she continued calling me names. I then told her that she must pay me my money for the day of R150 and that I’m leaving. I won’t tolerate such behavior from these kids. I think they take advantage of us because we are foreigners and are desperate for work and they therefore do as they want. This is not fair practice and they are breaking labour laws.”
