Lubango - The Minister of Public Administration, Labor and Social Security, Teresa Dias, considered the number of kids involved in child labour to be worrying and said that work is being done on the diagnosis to define policies to reduce the phenomenon.
Speaking as part of the meeting of experts that precedes the meeting of the Ministers of Employment and Labour, as well as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) social partners, which is taking place in Lubango, Huíla province, the minister said, without providing statistics, that the most critical provinces are Cuando Cubango, Lunda-Norte, Lunda-Sul and Bengo provinces.
"Child labour is more prevalent in some provinces because, culturally, some children work in the fields. We have been carrying out a survey and identifying the problem so that we can have policies that make it less and less possible to see children in this type of mistreatment", she said.
She stressed that in the big cities, such as Luanda, the situation is already being combated by a multi-sectoral commission that also involves the Ministry of Social Action, Family and Women's Promotion, the National Children's Institute, the Police and the Justice Department, in order to cut off the possibility of children being used as a labour force.
Demands for a minimum wage should be met gradually
On the other hand, when addressing the Civil Service strike, Teresa Dias said that the Government is open to dialogue with the social partners on the issue of minimum wages.
"We realise that purchasing power has been falling due to inflation, but we can not just because we want to or because the unions want us to, raise a pay scale that is not sustainable for the business sector", he stressed.
The minister said that the demand should be met gradually, while the Government continues to make efforts to provide more supply, in order to guarantee the minimum conditions and alleviate the current situation somewhat.
The meeting, which runs until Thursday, will discuss issues related to the state of the labour market in SADC, the implementation of the action plan on labour migration, the Child Labour Code of Conduct, the implementation of the International Labour Organisation's (ILO) international labour standards and the draft model framework for autonomous systems for resolving labour disputes.
The technical meeting of experts, which began today, runs until Tuesday, with the ministers' meeting taking place on Wednesday and Thursday.
The 16 member states of the organisation, namely Angola, South Africa, Botswana, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, eSwatini, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, are participating in the meeting. EM/MS/MRA/DOJ
