Help! Help helping itself

Apart from expensive jewellery and money that often goes missing in homes, bank statements and personal information have become objects of domestic theft.

Alan Carey, operations director at Justicia Investigations, said crimes committed by domestic workers in employers' homes are on the increase around the country.

Though he does not have statistics, he said cases investigated by his company in the first half of this year increased by 70% compared with the first half of 2012.

They ranged from theft of money and jewellery to staged break-ins and the passing on of bank statement information to syndicates.

Carey said a number of factors had led to the surge in theft, including rising food and transport costs, as well as greed.

"Domestic crime is painful and stressful because it has happened so close to home," said Carey. "Small things lead to bigger crimes and, once trust has been violated, it is gone. Unfortunately, [employers] don't act when they should because they are afraid the culprits will come back."

Kate Shuttleworth, the founder of Marvellous Maids, agreed that dishonesty among domestic workers was on the increase. But she said those most likely to steal were underpaid and exploited.

"My sense of it is: 'She stole from you but you are exploiting her.' Exploitation is another form of dishonesty," said Shuttleworth.

"My feeling [about foreign domestic workers stealing] is that this is because of their [lack of] security of tenure in South Africa. So they are shoring up against the future. Anybody who feels vulnerable will do what they have to do," she said.

Carey said employers were often on the back foot when they caught domestic workers stealing from them.

They should use standard disciplinary procedures and get the perpetrator to sign an admission of guilt, if proven to have committed a crime, before firing them, he said.

Employers should do full evaluations and pre-employment checks, Carey said, as his company had unmasked job seekers with criminal records and others who were wanted felons.

"Polygraphs are easy to organise and cost about R600, which is far less than the value of what could be stolen," he said.

At the very least, he urged, employers should lock away their valuables.