Domestic Workers In SA: The Sector Accounts For 5% Of Employment Yet Is The Most Underrepresented (And Undervalued)

Loading player...
Guest – Lourandi Kriel - CEO of SweepSouth

We cast the spotlight on one of South Africa’s most essential yet underrepresented workforces – domestic workers. Despite making up 5% of total employment in South Africa, domestic workers continue to face an uphill battle in terms of job security, financial stability, mental health, and legal protection.

From the harsh reality that 83% of domestic workers are the sole breadwinners in their households, to the worrying statistics around mental health decline and high debt levels – the conversation reveals just how vulnerable this sector truly is.
6 Aug 2025 12PM English South Africa Business News · Investing

Other recent episodes

How Women Power Africa's Economies

Across Africa, women are the backbone of informal trade, micro-entrepreneurship and community-based commerce. They run cross-border businesses, drive household economies, and power the continent’s most resilient markets. Yet millions remain ‘credit invisible’. Tonight, as part of our Women’s Month coverage, we speak to someone who is working to change that…
10 Aug 1PM 14 min

Women’s Financial Confidence vs Financial Freedom In South Africa

South African women are confident — but they’re not yet financially free. That’s the headline from the inaugural 1Life Women’s Life Confidence Index, which surveyed nearly a thousand women across the country. The research shows that 57% of women feel mostly or completely empowered to make decisions about their future…
10 Aug 1PM 16 min

Mercer Africa on the Future of Work for Women

As Women’s Month begins, Mercer Africa’s Keletjo Chiloane explores how AI, workforce expectations and outdated benefits are reshaping women’s experience at work. With women disproportionately exposed to skills gaps, job redesign risks and trust deficits, Keletjo outlines what employers must do to redesign work, benefits and culture so women can…
6 Aug 1PM 15 min

The Price of Survival — Inside SA’s July Food Basket Inflation Rise

The July 2026 Household Affordability Index shows the average food basket rising to R5 530.52, with transport and electricity swallowing 62% of a worker’s wage. Families are left with just R522 per person for food — far below the national food poverty line. PMBEJD’s Mervyn Abrahams unpacks the data, regional…
6 Aug 12PM 17 min

PIC Governance on Trial: CEO Reinstated

A high court has overturned the suspension of PIC CEO Patrick Dlamini, ordering his reinstatement and raising fresh questions about governance at South Africa’s largest asset manager. With a new board appointed and a regulator investigation underway, Stephen Sadie of the Chartered Governance Institute of Southern Africa breaks down the…
5 Aug 2PM 15 min