Government has advised parents and guardians to desist from child labour by sending them as hawkers to sale foodstuffs in drinking places.
Speaking in an Interview with ZANIS Ministry of Labour Public Relations Officer, Anita Nachilima Chadukwa says it sad that people are exposing children as young as six years to bad vises such as sending them to sell things in drinking places.
This follows concerns from the members on the increased number of children selling foodstuffs in drinking places in Chunga and Matero townships, respectively.
Ms. Chaduka says engaging children below the age of sixteen in any form of labour such as selling food stuffs in drinking places is against the law.
‘’Sending children to sale foodstuff in drinking places deprives children of their childhood because they are forced to abandon school due to pressure from parents who force them to help the family by going sale foodstuffs in places such as bars, ” she said.
Ms Chadukwa emphasized the need for children to be given an opportunity to go to school and get educated in a conducive environment that will help them adopt good behavior that a child is entitled to.
She has cautioned people in Child labour to desist from the vice as it may affect a child’s psychological and physical development.
“It is sad that able bodied parents are putting children’s lives at risk by sending them to drinking places at night when they can do it themselves,” She added.
Ms Chakuda has called on the members of the Public to desist from sending young people from selling foodstuffs drinking places.
Meanwhile a concerned parent, Hope Mwitwa says it is unfortunate that some parents and guardians were now assigning young ones to sell foodstuffs in bars while they stay home waiting for the child to bring money.
She also noted that a parent should always protect a child by taking them to school and exposing them to positive things by not exposing them things that might negatively affect them.
Gov’t shouldn’t be in the business of “advising” it should just catch the offenders and strictly enforce child labour law.
Most of those kids just forcefully start working.
Go to Mansa station in morning when fresh fish lands. If those women try to stop boys from carrying fish baskets, they get insulted like no other.
Imagine a woman receiving males insults like ” imwe mummies chikkala chenu or mwaba ittoole Bana Mumbii.”
What will women do next? Leave them work.
?ovt thru reckless policies and banditory of national resources are the causers of these high poverty levels.If you applied the same solutions you have used to address the poverty of leaders that went into GRZ with nothing and are now stinking rich child labour would surely disappear.
just lower poverty levels and that will disappear on its own…no matter how many arrests the authority make..it wont change anything as long as poverty levels remain high
It is the same money that the children make that is used to buy books, uniforms and other thing that are demanded in education.
And for the information of Anita Nachilima Chadukwa and Hope Mwitwa, the parents of those children don’t just sit home waiting for money. The remain home doing all household chores. They are unlike you who get paid by drinking tea in your offices. At home you have a maid who does all the donkey work.
The best you can do is scrape this child labor thing in third-world countries and leave it with affluent countries. Here every resource must be used to make ends meet.