Programme Director,
Honourable Ministers,
Honourable Members of Parliament here present,
Assistant Director-General of the International Labour Organisation,
Acting Director-General of the Department of Labour,
Leaders of our social partners business, labour and community,
Children who are our distinguished guests on this day,
Ladies and gentlemen.
What is child labour? Simply put, child labour is the employment of children in any work that deprives them of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular schooling, and all that is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful.
Many children are trapped in child labour at young ages, far too often under dangerous working conditions, with long hours, and exposure to harmful elements. That’s Child Labour ladies and gentlemen.
How far have we gone as the country in addressing this challenge? It is fact and not fiction Ladies and Gentlemen that South Africa is doing something about this; The inclusion in the Bill of Rights of a special section on the rights of the child was an important development for South African children, most of whom had suffered under apartheid for many years. Some had been detained without trial, tortured and assaulted; many faced discrimination in healthcare, education and other areas.
Yes children need special protection because they are among the most vulnerable members of society. They are dependent on others, their parents and families, or the state when the parents and families fail to do so. The country’s constitution states among other things, that every child has the right to be protected from maltreatment, neglect, abuse and exploitative labour practices.
Has the right not be required or permitted to perform work or provide services that are inappropriate for a child's age, or place at risk the child's well-being, education, physical or mental health, moral or social development. The Bill of Rights is not the only instrument the law uses to guard children's rights. Legal Instruments that provides specific protection for children in South Africa includes but not limited to;
- the Child Care Act of 1983, which makes it a criminal offence if a person who has to maintain a child doesn't provide the child with clothes, housing and medical care
- the Basic Conditions of Employment Act of 1997, which makes it illegal to employ a child under the age of 18
- the Domestic Violence Act of 1998, which defines different forms of domestic violence and explains how a child can get a protection order against the abuser
- the Films and Publications Act of 1996, which protects children from exploitation in child pornography
- the Children's Act, seeks to provide a holistic approach to the rights of all children.
- on the 30 March 2000, the South African Parliament ratified Convention 138 of 1973 on Minimum Age
- the Declaration on the Rights and Welfare of the African Child adopted by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Organisation of African Unity, at its Sixteenth Ordinary Session in Monrovia, Liberia from 17 to 20 July 1979, recognised the need to take appropriate measures to promote and protect the rights and welfare of the African Child.
It can therefore be argued that not only has South Africa placed the rights of children at the heart of nation building, but has taken demonstrable steps to put in place the legal framework to give effect to the spirit and the letter of our Constitution and pronounced its support of the International best practice on the matter.
The key question therefore, is not about the lack of goodwill and/or instruments to achieve this noble goal, but more the pace, enforcement and most importantly ramping up our efforts to ensure that we achieve the desired outcomes.
Ladies and gentlemen and our future leaders, there are many positive customs that protect children and promote their well-being. However, there are also those that carry the real risk of harm to the children’s welfare, safety, dignity, equality, development and health. Therefore winning the war against all known child abuses will be difficult and challenging as some of these are steeped in cultural, custom and even religious beliefs that have passed on from one generation to the other.
There is absolutely no reason why customs that protect children must not be promoted and harmful ones abolished, so that children are protected in the manner that they must indeed feel that we care. I call on all of us to unashamedly confront cultural, customs and religious beliefs that are out of sync with the rights of children including, addressing the challenge of the socio economic circumstances that confronts society which are often used as an excuse for child labour.
Practices such as child marriages, the use of children as beggars, conscription of children into the armed forces, children headed households, grannies that are forced to look after grand children because mothers are trying to irk a living often far away from their homes, migrant labour system where fathers are conscripted to work, often for months away from home, are but some of the circumstances that must be tackled head on.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Let me now turn to the labour dimension of the children rights. It is very important that we must make it our business to understand and acknowledge some of the underlying causes of child labour rather than dealing with the mere symptoms.
I am going to start by acknowledging that there are still pockets of child labour practices in our labour market world of work and indeed in the household setting. The prevalence of such practices varies from one sector to another, but is more profound in the vulnerable sectors and sections of our society.
We must also be careful not to define child labour so broad that it begins to diminish what has been developed over decades as important ingredients of building nations. The African continent is a tough place, so preparing our young people to survive in this dog-eat-dog environment requires tried and tested methods of up-bringing.
It is possible that for a foreigner some of the things we do may fit their perspective and definition of child labour whereas for the local people might be a necessary ingredient of nation building.
Just take a moment and ponder this brief scenario and tell me what you think?
Collecting wood and fetching water for the girl child, and herding cattle and livestock for the boy child were never seen as child labour, but an accepted way of life. It was so much part of life that the girl and the boy child, if prevented from doing these chores, will be very upset.
In the book “Long walk to freedom” the book does mention that the first democratically elected President of the Republic of South Africa Utat’u Mandela, spent quite a substantial part of his upbringing doing chores such as herding cattle and livestock.
The book even mentions the fact that Utat’u Mandela had a repertoire of being an excellent stick fighter which he fine-tuned out there looking after his father’s livestock. On the other hand when girls come of age, fetching water was but one of the chores that they guarded jealously because that’s where they will meet their peers and learn about many life skills and how to survive as a woman.
Needless to say that it was at the river, fetching water or washing clothes, where the girls’ prospects of finding a future husband were greater if not the only place. This is fact and not fiction Ladies and Gentlemen.
I believe that we can find the fine balance between promoting those cultural and traditional chores that have prospects of harnessing personal development for our children and preventing any element of abuse. Those who know better say, and I quote, “Do not throw the baby with the bath water” meaning let us be careful not throw away the whole bag full of potatoes just because there are one or two potatoes that are bad.
Programme Director, the Survey of Activities of Young People (SAYP) in 2006, reported that 59% of the young people said they were working because they had a duty to help their family, and a further 15% said they worked to assist the family with money. This kind of help, where a child is forced by circumstances to work is wrong and clearly constitutes Child labour.
In the farming communities, it is almost obligatory for children to work in the farms as that is often the preconditions and/or a license for their families to live in the farm. Often when the parents get older and are no longer able to work in the farm, children are forced to take over.
In cases where they have no children who can take over, the families are often evicted. In the domestic sector, in the case of those domestic workers who are permitted to live with their children in the employer’s property, children are sometimes asked to do chores like washing dishes, washing the mother’s boss’s car and even being forced to baby-sit mom’s boss’s children.
There are also cases where a child is forced by circumstances such as death of parents, single parent headed families to assume adult responsibilities at an early age. Whilst government has done a lot to mitigate the impact of these harsh realities, there is still a long way to go.
Although household chores are usually considered non-threatening by most parents and society, it may be a strong deterrent to educational activities and the optimal development of a child.
Much of these forms of work displace badly needed education and the meagre salary they earn cannot change their lives, the way education can.
The survey in 2010 again suggested that while levels of children involvement in market economic are low and there seems to be limited impact on schooling, South Africa still does have issues to address in respect of child work and labour. Given that the survey is almost five years old, maybe is time that another survey should be conducted.
In May 2010 South Africa became signatory to the ILO Roadmap towards the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour by 2016. Today, 22 August 2014 marks the significance of the National Day against Child Labour. As we commemorate this significant day, we must also celebrate the strides we have made in wrestling against this scourge.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Child Labour Programme of Action (CLPA) is South Africa’s roadmap towards the prevention, reduction and eventual elimination of child labour. The CLPA was first adopted in 2003 after extensive consultation within government, with a wide range of organisations outside government.
The programme sets out specific actions to be taken and assigned responsibility for these actions. Key elements of the Child Labour Programme of Action include:
- Targeting the implementation of government and other stakeholders’ programmes and policies on poverty, employment, labour and social matters more effectively in areas where the work children do has serious negative effects on them;
- Promoting new legislative measures against Worst Forms of Child Labour;
- Strengthening of national capacity to enforce legislative measures;
- Increasing public awareness and social mobilization against Worst Forms of Child Labour.
The second phase of this work was adopted by Cabinet on the 4th February 2009 and covered the financial years 2008/09 to 2012/13. It served to focus and guide the efforts of a number of government departments and civil society groups, including business organisations, labour federations and organisations.
Programme Director, the third phase covers the period April 2013 to March 2017 and focuses on service delivery and implementation. The revision aims to come up with a set of action steps that will make a “direct” difference for children engaged, or at risk of being engaged in child labour within this period.
For example, levels of engagement in non-market economic work – and in particular in fetching of fuel and water – remain high. Children living in deep rural areas are more badly affected on virtually all other indicators than children in other areas. Children in commercial farming areas also fare badly on many indicators.
In terms of population groups, African children fare worse than others on virtually all indicators. To the extent that gender differences are seen, it is often girls who are at a disadvantage. This information was also taken into account when the 3rd phase of the Child Labour Programme of Action was drafted therefore our focus on service delivery.
To show our commitment in dealing with this scourge of child labour, the 2013, Amended Basic Conditions of Employment Act which comes into operation on 1 September this year strengthens the prohibition of child labour would address the concerns in the informal trading sector and we should continue our campaigns to inform children and their parents of children’s rights.
Minister, Oliphant attended the 3rd Global Conference on Child Labour which took place in Brazil in October 2013, where Government, organised Business, Labour and Community committed themselves to address the remaining obstacles. The social partners agreed on measures to strengthen our action to eliminate the worst forms of child labour by 2016 as well as to eradicate all forms of child labour.
Ladies and gentlemen, we shall intensify our efforts, mobilise our resources and direct our effort to ensure that we eradicate child labour.
Let me also take this opportunity to salute the women folk of our land for their contribution in making our country what it is today. Igama lama-khosikazi, Malibongwe. It is a shame that today, women and children suffer much abuse and violence in society. Women are faced with exclusions and discrimination in the workplaces and, they experience high levels of unemployment.
I am reminded of the words of our struggle icon, Rolihlahla Mandela at his inauguration speech in 1994, when he said; and I quote
“I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. We dream of a society where harmony will be the order of the day, where violence against women and children will be the thing of the past. Where equal opportunities for both men and women will be a way of life,” Close quote.
I submit to you, that until we strive to live up to this ideal, we rob ourselves of the kind of society we can be.
Together let’s move South Africa forward, we have work to do, let’s get out there and do the right thing.
I thank you!
