Clampdown on child labour
2003-02-11 21:41
Johannesburg The department of labour is investigating claims
that childfren as young as nine are being employed on a farm in the Leeuwehoek district in the Western Cape.
The department says child labour is common in the agricultural sector.
Inspectors reportedly found children aged between nine and 14 working on the farm.
They said they got paid R30 a week.
According to e-tv, the children told the inspectors that the farm manager ordered them not to come to work on Tuesday and not to tell the inspectors that they worked on the farm.
The inspectors took statements from the children and their parents.
The farm manager, however, claimed he had stopped employing children after new child labour legislation was passed, e-tv said.
One in three South African children is involved in some sort of labour according to government figures.
Many of those children work on farms around the country.
- SAPA