by Caiphas Chimhete
Allan Mubvumbi, aged 14 years, spends 12 hours a day moulding bricks for his employer. After the day’s work he helps his employer to do household chores and retires to bed not ear1ier than10 pm.
He wakes up early the following morning to start his usual tiresome routine. At the end of each week, Alan receives a meagre wage of Z$45 (about USSS.17). Alan’s case is representative of many other children in southern Africa.
Child labour continues to increase despite a growing commitment by southern African governments, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and individuals to curb it Poverty has increased in many countries in the region, making it easier for entrepreneurs to exploit children by engaging them in any type of work for low pay. ··
“The depressing economic climate resulting in greater urban and rural poverty and unemployment has led to an increase in child labour,” says Charles Masoo, a Malawian social worker.
The United Nations Children’s Educational Fund (UNICEF) defines child labour as work that is too hard, too long in duration and too hazardous to a child’s physical or mental health. Usually the work prevents the child from attending school or socializing with other children of his or her age.
In southern Africa, child labour is more pronounced in small and large commercial farms, brick fields and small mining operations, especially gold panning. On farms, the children are employed directly or work as extra hands for their parents, who are paid on a piece-work basis. However, the problem has also crept into urban informal sectors where children do all sorts of things for survival. Some are employed as domestic workers, vendors and general workers.
International Labour Organisation (ILO) warns that child labour cou1d worsen due to drought, rapid urbanization, the Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) and the increase in the number of children whose parents die of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).
Poverty, conflict and rising cost of living has forced underage children to seek work, usually for low pay. Changes in family structures and values also mean that the children cannot depend on relatives.
The executive director of the Malawi-based Samaritan Organization, which looks after children in difficult circumstances, Jarvis Chakumodzi, says children in Malawi are engaged in child labour because of poverty and marriage break-ups, among other things.
Chakumodzi says that currently Malawi has about 200 000 orphans in a population of 10 million people and the number is expected to increase to 600 000 by 1998.
In Zimbabwe, labour statistics indica1e that there are more than 240 000 children between the ages of seven and 14 working on commercial or communal farms, and the informal sector, particularly small-scale mining. Meanwhile, labour experts say the figure is too conservative, and they believe that the number is far greater. Children working on cotton and coffee farms as pickers in Zimbabwe’s eastern district of Chipinge earn an average of Z$10 (US$1.18) for a 10-hour working day, six days a week.
However, a section of the Zimbabwe Labour Relations Act stales that no contract of employment shall be entered into with any person under the age of 16 whether or not such a person is assisted by his or her guardian. Despite this, many children are employed in violation of the Labour Act.
The environment under which the children work is not conducive to their good health. The General Agricultural and Plantation Workers Union of Zimbabwe (GAPWUZ) reports that children picking coffee suffer from eye problems as a result of pesticide residues.
A study by local unions and labour relations officers reveals that many of the children working on farms suffer from skin and breathing problems. In the absence of protective clothing and regular medical check-ups, these children’s health will suffer from long-term effects of the chemicals.
“The campaign against child labour cannot be won by governmental action alone. It requires the support and involvement of society at large,” says the ILO in its report tided Towards Actions Again.st Child labour in Zimbabwe.
Neither constitutional prohibitions nor the Labour Act provisions meant to protect children from economic exploitation seem to deter employment of children on farms in Botswana and Namibia. New Era, a Namibian newspaper, reports that a farm near Grootfontein employed 20 children under the age of 16 years to pick maize on a wage scale ranging from N$12 to N$30 (about US$3.21 to US$8.02) per week. The children said they would use their earnings to buy themselves school shoes, clothes, and pay school fees.
In South Africa, child labour has increased in the past few years because of the existence of many refugee children who run away from conflict in their countries. South Africa harbours thousands of Mozambican children in farms, mines and or as domestic workers. Some farmers dismiss the children toward the end of each month to avoid paying them their salaries and this continues every month.
South African Agricultural Union (SAA U) is lobbying for child labour to be allow under specified conditions. “We will get better results if we regulate rather than prohibit child labour and out right prohibition will be more of a problem to the government than the farmers•, says Kobus Kleynhans, chief director of general and social affairs for the SAAU.
Children have also been recruited as soldiers by the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita) and Mozambique National Resistance (Renamo). Some of them were as young as 12 years old. Last year, Mozambique file, a Mozambican publication reported that Renamo had thousands of children in their camps. Many of the youngsters suffered from behaviourial disturbances and tended to be aggressive because they had witnessed or participated in acts of violence.
“I believe that there is an urgent need to set up a plan of action for African refugee children under the aegis of the United Nations and Organization of African Unity … “, says President RobertMugabe. (SARDC)
