Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2007, published 97th ILC session (2008)

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - South Africa (Ratification: 1997)

1. Article 2(2)(c) of the Convention. Work of prisoners for private enterprises. The Committee notes the Government’s report received in August 2007. The Committee notes that, in reply to the Committee’s request for information on how it is guaranteed that prisoners who are made available to private hirers (pursuant to Department of Correctional Services Service Order B, Service Order 5), or who are employed in joint venture prisons (established under Chapter XIV of the Correctional Services Act) give their voluntary consent to such employment. The Government stated:

–           only willing inmates are assigned to this type of work and acknowledge work allocation by signing the minutes of the Case Management Committee;

–           only those inmates who choose to, will, on the given day, march out with work teams of private hirers;

–           in other words, whereas inmates are allocated to this type of work, they have a choice to go or not to go to work on a particular day.

The Government indicated that it had attached as an annex to its report a copy of the service orders referred to above; however, no attachment was received. The Committee therefore asks that the service orders be forwarded by the Government with its next report.

2. The Committee notes that the Government’s report contained no further reply on the following points.

3. The Committee recalled that, in addition to formal consent, there must be further guarantees and safeguards covering the essential elements of a labour relationship, such as a level of wages and social security corresponding to a free labour relationship, in order to remove the private employment of prisoners from the scope of Article 2(2)(c). The Committee again requests the Government to give details on such guarantees and safeguards in law and practice in its next report.

4. The Committee asked for information from the Government, including copies of any relevant interpretive administrative rules and guidelines, concerning the mechanics of the consent procedure prescribed in section 51(2) of Chapter VI (Community Corrections) of Correctional Services Act No. 111 of 1998, and how it has operated in practice. The Committee again requests the Government to give this information in its next report.

5. Articles 1(1), 2(1) and 2(2)(a). Compulsory military service. Career military servicemen. The Committee sought information about what, if any, guarantees are provided to ensure that services exacted for military purposes are used for purely military ends, and it also requested a copy of provisions applicable to military officers and other career military servicemen concerning their right to leave the service in time of peace, at their own request, either at certain reasonable intervals or by means of notice of reasonable length. The Committee again requests the Government to give this information in its next report.

6. Article 2(2)(e). Minor communal services. The Committee asked for more detailed information on the nature of works performed by traditional communities, in accordance with customs, customary law and applicable legislation, and on any guarantees provided to ensure that the members of traditional communities have the right to be consulted with regard to the need for such works. The Committee again requests the Government to give this information in its next report.

7. Article 25. Penal sanctions. The Committee requested information on any legal proceedings instituted as a consequence of the application in practice of section 48(2) and (3) of Basic Conditions of Employment Act No. 75 of 1997, under which a person who, for his or her own benefit or for the benefit of someone else, causes, demands or imposes forced labour, commits an offence, and of section 93(2) of the same Act, under which a person convicted of an offence under section 48 may be sentenced to a fine or imprisonment for a period of up to three years, and on the penalties imposed, as well as copies of relevant court decisions. The Committee again requests the Government to give this information in its next report.

8. The Committee trusts that the Government will reply to each of these aspects of the Committee’s previous direct request in its next report.