The Department of Employment and Labour has vowed to leave no stone unturned when dealing with cases of child labour following the discovery of a child doing inappropriate work at a shop in Marabastad.

Following the blitz inspections conducted in Tshwane last week, the department through the National Roving Team, discovered a child working in one of the shops.

Given the recent international conference on the elimination of child labour, which was held in South Africa in May 2022, the department said that this is appalling and unacceptable.

“The Department would like to emphasise that employing children to do inappropriate work is a criminal offense and when it comes to child labour and other violations of labour laws, the department will leave no stone unturned,” the department said in statement.

The South African Police Service has since arrested both the mother and the employer as a result of this discovery and the department is collaborating with other relevant government departments to deal with the matter.

“Employing a child is a criminal offense under the Basic Conditions of Employment Act. Children must attend school and not be assigned inappropriate work. The department takes child labour very seriously and wishes to convey the message that employing children must be prohibited,” the department said.

The department further encourages all citizens to get involved by reporting such cases to the department and the South African Police Services if they become aware of them.

Source: South African Government News Agency