Blaxploitation

I am exposed to a wide range of society for various reasons. Of all the people I meet/have met, the group that stands out the most for me is the ‘ousies/girls'(domestic workers) and the ‘garden boys'(gardener), for some reason in S.A these people might be up to 70 yrs old, but are still known as girls/boys and are referred to as such by even children. Now granted, historically, these people worked for whites and middle to upper class non-whites. Nowadays it is difficult to tell who all utilises these people’s services, with the advent of extremely cheap foreign labour. My exposure has been to the locals who perform these duties and what the majority of them have revealed to me is shocking. These people have been working for families for generations, up to 50 years in some cases. The stuff I have been told is disturbing to say the least. I am of the opinion that these people are invisible to their employers, they are quite literally part of the furniture and thus privy to their employer’s deepest, darkest secrets- incest, drug/alcohol/child/spouse/parental abuse, you name it, they have been exposed to it. Not mentioning the abuse they themselves were subjected to, physical, mental and sexual, the number of them who were forced to undergo abortions ( either the ‘baas’ or the ‘baas’ son’s) or they were forced to give the progeny up for adoption is mindblowing. Is it fair for these people to be traumatised for the bulk of their lives and in return be paid a pittance for it? The irony is that in most of these ‘relationships’, the employers know virtually nothing about their employees(who in turn know every last intimate detail), this has been highlighted in the media recently due to various employers being the victims of scams inflicted on them by ‘relatives’ of their employees. There has also been incidents recently where the employees were in cahoots with criminals in robberies of the households they are employed in, assisting the criminals with access etc. There is no justification for criminal behaviour, but is it fair to live in the lap of luxury and exploit people at the same time? I keep hearing how the employers care and consideration for their pets far outweighs the treatment of the employees. Who are the actual criminals here?

Do you have domestic worker/gardener? How much do you know about them? Have you ever wondered how much they know about you?