Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2024, published 113rd ILC session (2025)

Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) - South Africa (Ratification: 2000)

Article 1 of the Convention. National policy designed to ensure the effective abolition of child labour and application of the Convention in practice. The Committee notes the Government’s indication, in its report, that it has a wide range of existing programmes that are directly and indirectly improving the situation of children, namely: (1) programmes aimed at addressing poverty, for example, the public works programmes, the provision of basic infrastructure, access to basic services and the roll out of social grants that benefit children; (2) the Child Labour Programme of Action (CLPA) 2019-2021, which is the country’s action plan towards the prevention, reduction and eventual elimination of child labour and which was extended to 2022 due to COVID-19; and (3) in May 2022, the Government hosted the 5th Global Conference on Elimination of Child Labour, which closed with the adoption of the “Durban Call to Action”, a document that emphasizes the need to scale up action to eliminate child labour. The Government adds that, in order to implement the Durban Call to Action, it has deemed it necessary to establish Phase V of the CLPA covering the period 2022–25, which will set out specific actions to be taken towards the elimination of child labour and which will assign responsibility for these actions to different government departments.

The Committee notes the Government’s indication that the Survey of Activities of Young People, 2019, (SAYP 2019) shows a decline in the number of children (aged 7 to 17 years) involved in child labour, from 577,000 (5.2 per cent of children) in 2015 to 571,000 (5 per cent) in 2019. The survey found that: (1) the prevalence of child labour increases noticeably with age, from 2.6 per cent among the youngest children (7–9 years) to 7.1 per cent in the oldest age group (16–17); (2) compared to other population groups, black African children were more likely to be involved in child labour (5.7 per cent of black African children are involved in child labour, compared to 2.6 per cent of white children); (3) child labour decreased across all age groups, except among children aged 10–15 years which increased by 0.4 percentage points; and (4) although there has been a decrease in the rate of child labour in KwaZulu-Natal, it remains the province with the highest rate of child labour (from 10 per cent in 2015 to 8.4 per cent in 2019).

The Government warns that despite the decrease in child labour between 2015 and 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic and recent floods in some parts of the country may reverse this decline if not closely addressed and monitored. In this regard, the Committee notes with interest that the Government is engaged in ILO technical assistance through the “Strengthening the prevention and elimination of Child Labour in the Agricultural sector in South Africa” Project 2023–24, which aims to improve collaboration, partnerships and capacity-building among multiple target groups, at the local and national levels, in their work towards the prevention and elimination of child labour. The Committee welcomes the positive results achieved in terms of the reduction of child labour and it strongly encourages the Government to pursue its efforts to ensure the progressive elimination of child labour in the country, for children of all ages and ethnic groups, taking into account the negative impact of COVID-19. It further requests the Government to continue to provide information on: (i) the measures taken in this regard; (ii) the adoption and implementation of Phase V of the CLPA; and (iii) the results achieved in terms of the number of children withdrawn from child labour. Finally, it requests the Government to provide information on the implementation and results achieved within the framework of the Strengthening the prevention and elimination of Child Labour in the Agricultural sector in South Africa Project 2023–24.