"I will go if I must, but I have nothing to go to, there is no work in Zimbabwe and we will struggle to live," soft-spoken domestic worker Ann Mbereko* said this week. Mbereko, who is divorced, lives with her child in a room in the yard of a house in Tembisa in Gauteng. They have called it home for two and a half years.For Mbereko, the trip to Johannesburg's northern suburbs, where she works, is fraught with danger. She talks to no one on the taxi, afraid to draw attention to herself or her accent for fear of being assaulted.Mbereko is one of the 205 615 foreign domestic workers in South Africa who make up 11% of the 1.5 million people employed in private households, according to 2011 census data from Stats SA.Figures for the little-researched migrant sector differ slightly from one survey to another, but that figure is regarded as a good indication of foreign domestic numbers, in an often informal sector. The data generally focuses on 2012 research because this was the last survey Stats SA conducted on the migrant labour force.Mbereko, like other domestic workers interviewed, said she would return to her country of origin - reluctantly - if the xenophobic violence made it impossible for her to earn a living."Some of the domestic workers I know say they are thinking of returning if this thing gets worse," said Mbereko, who was working in South Africa in 2008 when the last major xenophobic attacks occurred.Maria Dzonga*, who has lived in South Africa for 15 years with her husband, who works as a gardener, said they had not been directly threatened but did experience antagonism as Zimbabweans. "We have been told we are not wanted here," she said.Domestic workers are a silent and often unrecognised workforce, sometimes catching two or more taxis from the areas where they live to get to work in suburban homes.The loss of foreign workers, driven out by xenophobic violence, will affect hundreds of thousands of households, particularly in the wealthier provinces such as Gauteng and the Western Cape, that employ the largest number of domestic workers. The latest labour force survey, for the fourth quarter of 2014, estimates that 1.21million people are employed as domestic workers, which is more than the number of workers in agriculture, mining, utilities and transport.Domestic workers, which include gardeners, caregivers and those who clean homes, are also employed in townships.Of those employed, 891704 work in white-owned households and 591470 in African-owned households, although this constitutes only 5% of black households, according to the 2012 General Household Survey.Zimbabweans account for just more than half of the foreign domestic workers in South Africa (52%), while 22% are from Mozambique and 10% from Lesotho and Malawi.Lindiwe Shibambo, founder of Maid4U and chairwoman of the new South African Domestic Workers Forum, said of the 20 foreign workers her Gauteng-based company registered a day, six were Zimbabwean and six were from Lesotho.She said Zimbabweans were easier to place than applicants from Lesotho, who often had lower qualifications and had crossed the border illegally.Without proper documentation, it was not possible for domestic workers to qualify for unemployment insurance fund benefits, she said, which further disadvantaged these workers, who already have to take lower-paying jobs."Zimbabwean applicants have work permits or asylum documents, and at least four out of the six registered daily are well educated. We have nurses, accountants and teachers who apply, and they will be employed by higher-income [households] which want someone who can drive, speak English and look after their children."Exploited and AbusedThe forum, which has established a relationship with the Department of Labour, is trying to generate greater awareness of the sector.Shibambo said there had already been discussions with the Lesotho government on how to protect the workers."It's the foreign workers who are most exploited," she said. "They are paid a lot less. Those from Lesotho can be paid as little as R1200, and are they going to complain? No. They will take what they can get."Abuse is also an issue. "A woman who was asking for employment at a robot was picked up by a man who took her to a house in Soweto ... and did what he wanted to her. He knew there was nowhere she could go to report him."Contrary to perceptions that foreign workers are taking employment from South Africans, only 4% of the working population of 33million are foreign, the 2011 census found.Data gathered by the African Centre for Migration and Society, which forms part of the Migrating for Work Research Consortium, found that of that 4%, 82% are self-employed, often running spaza shops.Dr Zaheera Jinnah, a researcher at the centre, said a lack of data on migrants had contributed to myths about how many foreigners there were in South Africa.This situation means that foreigners are painted as a threat - in parliament and in speeches by politicians and leaders."Any economy needs a diverse range of skills and activities to be robust," Jinnah said."Our data shows that migrants tend to work in the crafts and services sectors and that as many as 11% of migrants are employers and 21% are own account workers, so hindering their entry into the country or into the labour market is likely to negatively affect production and job creation even though this is on a small scale given the overall small size and proportion of foreigners in South Africa."*Names have been changed to protect the identities of those interviewed..