From Broom to Boardroom
by Norma Young

Fax [011] 332 0709
E-mail nyoung@truelove.co.za

Although it’s a job nobody aspires towards, many people are left with no choice but to become domestic workers. But it doesn’t have to end there – as proved by two former domestic workers who’ve used their skills and knowledge as building blocks to bigger things!

Josephine Tshaboeng has worked her way up from being a domestic servant to owning two buildings in the Johannesburg city centre, but when I meet her she doesn’t resemble the archetypal glamorous, urban businesswoman.

As we chat, her brilliant combination of wisdom, determination and articulation surface, attesting to her success. She proudly admits she’s made it in life in spite of her difficult past. “I suffered a lot as a child,” she recalls. “Our parents died when we were young and we children struggled to live and get through school. I knew I had to move to Jo’ burg to find a job, so my sisters and my own two children could survive.”

Josphine left her home town of Boikhutso in North West province and moved to the City of Gold in search of a brighter life, but without a matric or work experience, her job potential was limited. While checking the notice board of a supermarket for job advertisements, her vibrant personality and talkative nature unexpectedly opened a door. “There was a beggar standing nearby and I started talking to him. He knew somebody who needed a domestic worker, and because I knew I had to take anything that came along, I followed it up and eventually got the job,” she recalls.

For eight years, Josephine was a live-in domestic for a family of four. Her main responsibilities were cleaning and looking after the children, but she assisted with anything else when she could. “I just told myself I had to put in the extra effort because I wanted to live,” she reminisces. “I knew I wouldn’t be a domestic worker for the rest of my life, but I also needed to keep this job. While still working there, I began studying matric part-time, taking two subjects at a time.” At the age of 28, Josephine got her matric certificate and began job hunting, but she battled once again because of lack of experience and no tertiary qualifications. She continued as a maid until a “misunderstanding with the madam that finally got me out of domestic work and into my lovely new career.”

In the five years since she’s acquired the building, Josephine has expanded her assets to include Thabo Jabula, a hostel for students. Then, 18 months ago, she saw a ‘For Sale’ sign outside a property and decided she wanted it. When she approached the owner with her business idea, she admitted she had no capital, but he was so impressed by her proposal that he offered to go into partnership with her. “I looked around at other flats in Jo’ burg and realised that students were surrounded by night-clubs when they’d actually come to the city to study. Thabo Jabula offers students safe and secure accommodation so they can study in peace. We take in girls between the ages of 18 and 25, on condition they’re enrolled at a tertiary institution.”

On the day of our interview many people came to ask Josephine if any accommodation was left, but she repeatedly had to explain that the hostel was already full. Success as a businesswoman affords her a better quality of life, but for Josephine “success is helping and motivating the next person to fulfil their dreams.” She’s now busy looking for another building to offer accommodation to male students and has other business plans up her sleeve. “I could have stayed a domestic worker but, because I’m not afraid to face up to challenges, I’ve changed my life. I’m now managing both buildings, paying salaries and bills and meeting with people. When I was a domestic, all I used to say to people knocking at the door was: ‘Sorry, the madam’s not here.” Now I’m coming into the limelight and I’m the madam!”

Thandi Nhlapo is another former domestic worker who once scrubbed and polished floors, but stepped out of poverty onto centre stage as a businesswoman. “My mother was a domestic worker for all of her adult life,” she recalls. “I grew up jealous and felt as if I had no mother because she was busy raising other people’s children and had no time for us.”

Although they are now able to communicate better, Thandi admits these feelings of abandonment strained her relationship with her mother, and when they did see each other during her school holidays, they were never able to develop an intimate bond. In 1986, during her matric year, Thandi herself became a mother and abandoned her studies so she could spend time with her baby. She realised, however, that if she didn’t resume her studies, she’d battle to find good employment and be unable to create a better life for her family.

“Two years later I went back to school and completed my high-school education,” affirms Thandi “I was fortunate to pass, but then I had no money to go to university. Nobody in my family was educated and the only careers I knew about within my reach were nursing and teaching.”

“With the little money my family could put together, I decided to do a month-long hairdressing course. Once I’d finished that, I started braiding, relaxing and styling hair from my house to bring in some money. I did this until 1994, and it was a struggle every day. There was never enough money for food, the children’s school fees, transport, clothes and our other needs.”

After making enquiries with friends and neighbours, Thandi found out about a three-month caregivers’ course which, she was told, could open doors to a nursing career and even work abroad. She enrolled for the course and, upon completing it, found employment at an old-age home. “I’d always thought my mother’s job was too much hard work and too challenging for anyone to cope with. I didn’t think I’d ever become a domestic and, in fact, I looked down on the job and those who agreed to do it – but suddenly the job I had was the one I was angry at her for haven taken. I thought as a caregiver I’d be in more of a supervisory position, but I found myself having to bath, clean and look after people and keep the home tidy and clean.”

“I was battling because the housework was tough and looking after other people was demanding. It was a 6am – 6pm job and I was coming home too tired to spend time with my children.” While Thandi might have wanted to leave, the fear of not being able to provide for her kids with food and shelter made her stay, until fate played its hand. At the flat she’s been staying in, Thandi and the rest of the tenants were constantly having their water electricity and water cut off and the building wasn’t being properly managed. After a meeting, it was decided they needed a managing agent and a caretaker.

With her eager attitude and willingness to work hard, Thandi became that caretaker. “I didn’t quit my full-time work, but was just available on evenings and on some weekends to collect rent, respond to complaints and make sure the building was properly maintained. I t was a demanding thing to do, but I enjoyed it and realised that I was learning a lot.” When the Trust for Urban Housing Foundation [TUHF] approached Thandi to go on a weekend-long property buying and management training course, she eagerly agreed. That weekend in September 2003 marked a turning point in her life.

“As we were talking and learning, I realised that although I had no tertiary qualifications, I had the right attitude and skills to get involved in the business. I decided I wanted not only to manage, but also own property. The TUHF and I signed an agreement for them to help me with financing.”

Now claiming the title of property investor, Thandi’s full-time responsibilities include delegating, liaising and marketing. “My work now is difficult, but I’m determined. The building I stay in has 55 units, and I’ve already managed to buy 10. It won’t be long before the other 45 are also mine.

True Love
April 2005