Child Labour-Mdladlana

Labour Minister, Membathisi Mdladlana says it is important to note that the Child Labour Programme of Action acknowledges that although the number of children in employment in South Africa is relatively low and thus could be managed much easier than in other countries, the kinds of intervention needed to deal with the habit, should address the root causes of child labour which are mainly poverty and lack of education. Mdladlana was responding to a parliamentary question from Mr I.M. Ollis of the Democratic Alliance on whether he intended setting any benchmark targets for the eradication of child labour. 

The Minister said in focussing on the root causes of the scourge, a focus purely on numbers and therefore setting numerical targets would be contrary to the approach that the Child Labour Programme of Action sets forth. “Further, even if the focus is on numbers, there is no guarantee that the root causes, that is, poverty and lack of education, will not render more children susceptible to the scourge”, Mdladlana said. 

On whether there are any benchmarks to differentiate between acceptable household chores and child labour, the Minister said the Child Labour Programme as approved by Cabinet in 2009 sets a very clear benchmark. It states that “work in itself is not necessarily harmful and could, in fact, be beneficial to children in many ways”. Mdladlana said the Child Labour Programme of Action further recognised the role of cultural attitudes in considering whether work was harmful and emphasised that work by children such as household chores, and activities such as fetching water can be beneficial to children. 

The Minister said the definition for child labour that informs the Child Labour Programme of Action of “work which is exploitative, hazardous or otherwise inappropriate for their age, detrimental to their schooling or their social, physical, mental, spiritual or moral development….”, provided a sufficient and very clearly stated benchmark for what constitutes child labour. “It should, therefore, not be necessary to quantify what household chores constitute child labour beyond what the definition provides” said Mdladlana.

Issued by: Mzobanzi Jikazana

                 Ministerial Spokesperson        

                 083 641 2355