Suburban
The Borrowdale Ratepayers and Residents Association has called on residents to take good care of their domestic workers as they do more for the families they work for.
Peter Tanyanyiwa Suburban Reporter
The residents’ body said domestic helpers are so important such that at some point they cease to be domestic staff and become part of the family.
In an interview, the BRRA chairperson Mr Robert Mutyasira said the ill-treatment of domestic staff will not be tolerated in Ward 18 and if it comes to light, the association will facilitate legal action against the offenders.
“The welfare of domestic staff in our ward or anywhere else cannot be apportioned to anyone except ourselves. We may not realise the gap these individuals cover for us and at some point, they cease to be mere employees but become family and most of our functions depend on their commitment, reliability and loyalty,” he said.
“They look after our children, the aged, our homes, personal possessions and pets among many other valuables. We can no longer afford to give them inhumane treatment expecting to replace them whenever we feel they have outlived their usefulness to us. Good ones are not as easy to find and if we have a high turn-over of domestic staff we also become an easy target for criminals so we are better off giving the best of care and attention to those who have been around us.”
He further said that domestic staff should also be treated as residents so much that they will be able to vote for any candidate of their choice during elections at all levels and their freedom of worship should also be respected.
“It is also important to note that they are also residents and have rights to vote if they live with us and are registered as voters in the ward and constituency. That being said, our staff attend different churches and it has been noted that most attend the so called ‘white garment churches’ or ‘mapostori’ as they are popularly known where they believe they have enhanced chances of exterminating bad omens and also brighten their future. Nothing wrong with that as we expect the church to inculcate good morals to their members and our benefit,” he said.
“Meanwhile, the stories circulating in various forms of media with regards to the conduct of some of these churches, the latest being a fourteen-year-old girl, Blessing Machaya, who died while giving birth in Manicaland and is alleged to have been impregnated by a man from one of the prominent churches in that province have left many people perplexed and wondering how many such cases of pedophiles, statutory rape and child marriages are going on unnoticed right across the country.
“Our immediate vicinities are not an exemption either. The probability of exposure of our domestic staff to such practices is actually quite high and this could be happening right under our noses without us knowing. How much about our domestic staff do we know? Do we inquire about their immediate family and children? Do we know if they are making ends meet?” said Mr Mutyasira.
The BRRA leader added that research has shown that poverty and illiteracy are among the causes of such social deviances which include child marriages, statutory rapes, child labour and abuse.
“Poverty incapacitates people and they do not get access to resources neither are they able to meet the basic needs of life. It is unfortunate that children, especially the girl child, become the first victims to be offloaded from the burden of looking after a family when times are hard. An offer of marriage from an unscrupulous adult may be a lucrative opportunity for an unenlightened and irresponsible parent to place immediate comforts ahead of the welfare of their child,” he said.
He said the Borrowdale community and beyond must be unsettled by these issues and urgent intervention is necessary where cases have been exposed.
“Having realised the major causes of these social problems, we can only but begin to address the problem by doing what we can. Firstly, let us talk about it. We need to develop good and open relationships with our staff where they should be at liberty to disclose some of their issues.
‘‘We should never dismiss any anomaly as somethings that is not of our concern. It is in those sinister disclosures that we will know of deeper eventualities, some of which are undesirable,” said Mr Mutyasira.
