A child was rescued from hard labour when police officers raided a factory in Marabastad, Pretoria on Monday.
The Department of Employment and Labour said in a statement that the mother of the child and the employer were arrested during the raid for allowing a minor to work at the factory.
“Employing a child is a criminal offense under the Basic Conditions of Employment Act,” the department said.
“Children must attend school and not be assigned inappropriate work. The department takes child labour very seriously and wishes to convey a message that employing children must be prohibited.”
The department, which promised to address the violation of children’s rights, said an investigation into the employment of the minor has been launched.
The raid at the factory came a few months after the country observed the Child Protection Week in May.
In a nationwide drive to spread the message about child protection, the department visited the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, as well as other areas that show high statistics of teenage pregnancy, rape, and abduction of children who are then married to older men.
Follow @SundayWorldZA on Twitter and @sundayworldza on Instagram, or like our Facebook Page, Sunday World, by clicking here for the latest breaking news in South Africa. To Subscribe to Sunday World, click here.
