![Sample our Global Development journals, sign in here to start your access, latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5929/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Global-Development.jpg"})
Acknowledgements
The most sincere thanks to the most important people in my research, the domestic workers who generously shared their experiences with me. Thanks to Dr. Shivani Satija and Dr. Ruth Castel Branco for encouraging me to persevere and submit this essay. Thanks also to my Masters supervisor at Oxford University at the time of this research, Dr. Liz Fouksman, as well as dear friends and comrades Tasneem Essop and Shafee Verachia who generously commented on parts of this research. A special thanks to my partner Khaleel Kharbai for his enduring love during the writing up of this research in 2019 and to my late father Akbar Kalla whose encouragement to question critically the role of digital technologies is enough to last multiple lifetimes. A further thanks to the FirstRand International Postgraduate scholarship as well as the Wadham Senior Scholarship for the financial support during my studies. Lastly, thanks to Professor Shireen Ally who provided guidance throughout my research in 2018/19 and whose sociological insights have enriched my writing and activism.
Notes
1 Approximately R600.00 (US$36.09) per month.
2 The contract was viewed in 2019 and could have been changed since then. The workers were reluctant to share the contract as they felt encouraged by the company to keep it confidential.
3 Zero-rating is the practice of providing internet access without financial cost under certain conditions.
4 The psychological distress with not having any time for recreational activity is subdued by being a SweepStar, because the deference is for the duration of the gig and not for prolonged periods of time with the same employer. This was particularly relevant for former live-in domestic workers, whose employers controlled every aspect of their lives from what they ate, wore, what time they slept, and who they slept with, described by Cock (Citation1980) as the ‘total institution’.
5 She had travelled far for our session, knowing it was an interview and knowing she would only make around R10.00 (US$0.6) because of her infrequent work during that week, she accepted.
6 For example, being late or not confirming a booking. This ignores external factors like taxi strikes, load-shedding, a sick child, getting mugged on their way to work, having an accident, or having no or poor network.
7 Amounts adjusted to August 2022 exchange rate at US$1 = R16.63.
8 This followed the case of a domestic worker who drowned in her employer’s pool. Despite working for the family for 22 years they offered her daughter R5,000 (US$300.75) as compensation. Socio-Economic Rights Institute (SERI) of South Africa took on the case to challenge the constitutionality of domestic workers being excluded from COIDA and the Department of Labour has since published an amendment bill for public comment. The ruling took 7 years of investigation by legal rights groups and domestic workers as well as the South African Domestic Services and Allied Workers Union (SADSAWU) (Cabe Citation2019).
9 Thugs.
10 The red face represents ‘incidents’ which affect the reliability score negatively, such as a ‘late cancellation’.
11 In these groups they help each other with transport money, directions, and data, and confide in each other about their experiences.
12 Hebrew word: to live; to have life. Arabic word: modesty, decency.
13 Crowd fleecing entails drawing on a pool of millions, in this case, thousands of workers in real time, with no guarantee made to them about the availability of work.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Shaeera Kalla
Shaeera Kalla is a scholar and filmmaker. She was named one of the Top 200 Young South Africans by the Mail & Guardian in 2016 for her activism during the #FeesMustFall protests. Shaeera has continued her involvement in various social justice work, most recently on the revival of demands for Universal Basic Incomes. She sits on the board of Section 27 and on the Editorial Collective of Amandla Magazine. Shaeera holds an MSc in African Studies (Oxford University), and a BA Honours and BComm in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (Wits University). She is a believer in the wise words of Agnès Varda: all you need in life is a computer, a camera and a cat. Postal address: 3 Battuta, Raslouw Gardens Estate, Centurion, Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa, 0157. Email: [email protected]