COSATU,+Child+labour+tragedy



=Child labour tragedy=

The Congress of South African Trade Unions is outraged at the death of a 15-year-old boy who was killed while allegedly working with a cattle food mixing machine on a farm near Vryburg. We send our condolences to his family and friends.

We welcome the decision by the Department of Labour to open a criminal case against the farmer who was allegedly employing the boy. If the allegations are true the employer was breaking the Child Labour Act, Clause 25 of the Sectoral Determination for Farm Workers, and Section 43 of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, which prohibits the employment of children.

COSATU is even more concerned at the DoL’s statement that they have noted a high incidence of child labour in the North West, especially on farms around Vryburg, Lichtenburg and Taung. If this is true unions, government and civil society need to launch a major campaign to put a stop to it.

This tragedy should spur the country to step up the campaign to eliminate child labour, this most despicable form of exploitation. We welcome the forthcoming conference of governments and civil society organisations from Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland in Johannesburg from 4-6 July to focus our efforts on combating this illegal practice, and to take forward the recent resolution by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Geneva to "give child labour the red card".

COSATU will do everything possible to help to eradicate child labour, which involves almost 50 million children aged between five and 14 years in sub-Saharan Africa - or 26% of youngsters in this age group. It robs children of their childhood, disrupts their education, endangers their health and even their lives, and increases unemployment amongst those above the legal working age.


 * Patrick Craven (Spokesperson)**
 * Congress of South African Trade Unions**
 * 1-5 Leyds Cnr Biccard Streets**
 * Braamfontein, 2017**


 * P.O.Box 1019**
 * Johannesburg, 2000**
 * South Africa**


 * Tel: +27 11 339-4911/24**
 * Fax: +27 11 339-5080/6940**
 * E-Mail: patrick@cosatu.org.za**

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