Zimbabwean Housemaids 'Enslaved' In Oman
A Zimbabwean diplomat says the Government should consider banning Zimbabweans from travelling to Oman to work as domestic workers following revelations that some of the maids are being subjected to harsh living and working conditions.
The Zimbabwean Embassy in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, on 18 February sent senior officials on a consular visit to Muscat, the capital of Oman, after receiving calls from scores of Zimbabwean women employed as maids alleging constant beatings, overwork, underpayment and forced labour.
The delegation, which was led by Counsellor Onismo Chigejo, was in Muscat on a two-day fact-finding mission.
It established that most of the women had their passports seized when they arrived in Oman and were being forced to see out their two-year employment contracts even though they no longer wanted to stay in the country.
Some of the employers are allegedly demanding up to US$2 500 from the women in return for their freedom, yet most of the women earn between US$60 to US$80 per month.
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A report from Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to the UAE, Lovemore Mazemo, addressed to Foreign Affairs and International Trade Secretary, James Manzou, reads in part:
Some of the challenges that they are facing include working for between 15 to 18 hours per day with no rest; no off days even when one is sick; salaries are not paid in full or on time; being forced to work for large extended families; confiscation of passports by employers; physical assaults and verbal abuses; confinement to the house for long periods of time; denial of adequate food as well as the inability to leave an employer and work for another one before the end of their two-year contracts.
As a way forward, the Embassy strongly recommends that the Department of Social Welfare should consider taking action to rescue some of the maids by raising the money which the employers of the maids are demanding back.
Two of the maids are now displaying suicidal mentalities much to the fear of Zimbabweans in Oman.
The two maids openly told consular officers that they were seriously considering committing suicide as a way to end their suffering and enslavement.
The Government may wish to consider banning Zimbabwean nationals from migrating to Oman to work as maids.
According to the report, some of the workers’ communication with the outside world is severely restricted as they are not allowed to have cellphones with local (Omani) numbers to prevent them from calling the police.
Oman uses the kafala labour system which requires all migrant workers to have an in-country sponsor, usually their employer, who is responsible for their visa and legal status.
The system is used to monitor migrant labourers, working primarily in the construction and domestic sectors in the Gulf States.
