Myrtle Witbooi Tribute

Oxfam South Africa and the social justice and human rights community mourn the passing of Myrtle Witbooi.

At the time of her death, Witbooi was the general secretary of the South African Domestic Service and Allied Workers Union (SADSAWU).

Witbooi was a social justice organiser who championed the rights and dignity of domestic workers around the world.

In 2015, she told Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organising that “where women take the lead, things happen.”

The greater Oxfam community had the opportunity and privilege to work with Witbooi in different areas of our work.

Rukia Cornelius, the project lead for African Activists for Climate Justice at Oxfam Novib, said in her tribute.

“She firmly believed that there could be no anti-patriarchal struggle without an anti-capitalist struggle.” She believed in the leadership of working-class women and gender non-binary people, without whom our homes, our families, and our communities would not be standing.

We salute you, comrade Witbooi