Government-funded programmes and services for vulnerable - Unicef

CHAPTER 6
Department of Labour
Introduction
The Department of Labour (DoL) has two core responsibilities in relation to providing
care and support for vulnerable children and their families.
Taking its lead from the UNCRC (Article 32) and the ACRWC (Article 15), which prohibit
the economic exploitation of children and employment of children to do hazardous work,
section 28(1)(f) of the Constitution provides that, ‘Every child under 18 years has the right
not to be required or permitted to perform work or provide services that are inappropriate
for someone of that age or that place at risk the child’s well-being, education, physical or
mental health or spiritual, moral or social development.’ The DoL is responsible for giving
effect to this right by protecting children from child labour.
Section 27 of the Constitution gives national effect to the international protection of the
right of children to social insurance. 88 It guarantees all vulnerable people the right to
social security, including social assistance. The White Paper for Social Welfare in South
Africa (1997) defines social security as:
[a] wide range of public and private measures that provide cash or in-kind
benefits, or both, first in the event of an individual’s earning power permanently
ceasing, being interrupted, never developing, or being exercised only at
unacceptable social cost and such person being unable to avoid poverty. It
includes both social assistance and social insurance (contributory schemes).
The DoL is responsible for the administration of the social insurance/contributory schemes
linked to unemployment for vulnerable children and their families.
Key policies
● International Labour Organisation Minimum Age Convention, 1973
● International Labour Organisation Convention on the Prohibition and Immediate
Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, 1999
● The National Child Labour Programme of Action for South Africa: Phase 2: 2008 to
2012, Department of Labour
Key legislation
● The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Act No. 108 of 1996
● The Basic Conditions of Employment Act, No. 75 of 1997 as amended by the Basic
Conditions of Employment Act, 2002
● The Children’s Act, No. 38 of 2005 as amended by Act No. 41 of 2007 and Act No. 75
of 2008
● Unemployment Insurance Fund Act, No. 63 of 2001 as amended by the
Unemployment Insurance Amendment Act, No. 32 of 2003
88 UNCRC, Article 26
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