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Underage and Underground – the plight of Africa’s child miners

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Underage and Underground – the plight of Africa’s child miners

Africa is arguably the world’s most minerally rich continent. It has the world’s largest reserves of platinum, uranium and cobalt, and produces, by value, around two-thirds of the world’s diamonds. It also contains about 40% of global gold deposits, and up to 90% of its chromium.

And yet it is also widely considered the poorest continent in the world.

Over a quarter of all the hungry people on Earth live in Africa, and one fifth are considered malnourished – the highest rate of malnutrition in the world. As always, the greatest burden of this suffering is borne by children.

Almost a third of African children are physically and mentally underdeveloped. Sub-Saharan Africa is particularly affected, and is the region with the highest infant mortality in the world: one in 11 children will die before their 5th birthday.

And yet, despite this, almost 60 million children between the ages of 5 and 17 work instead of playing and going to school. The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates that this represents just over 40% of the continent’s children.

Robbed of their childhoods and forced into child labour, they are unwilling warriors in the fight against generational poverty.

Many of these children are abandoned by families who can no longer afford to look after them. This leaves them vulnerable to not only the evils of child labour, but also trafficking and other vile threats.

There are several industries in which child labour is prevalent, notably agriculture, but it is small-scale mining where the practice is particularly rife.

The ILO reports that in Tanzania, for example, children as young as eight dig holes up to 30m deep and work underground for eight hours a day without proper ventilation or lighting. They are constantly at risk of injury or death from cave-ins.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) the situation is even worse.

The DRC is the world’s dominant supplier of cobalt, a critical component in lithium-ion batteries. Around 80% of the mining and refining of this in-demand mineral is undertaken by Chinese companies and then sold to battery makers around the world.

Ironically, while battery-powered electric vehicles are being hailed as the saviours of the environment, the mining of the cobalt that powers them is linked to catastrophic environmental degradation and serious human rights abuses.

Reports of unsafe practices and worksites, and a reliance of child labour, are commonplace. The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that at least 25 000 children are working in cobalt mines in the DRC.

Thankfully, in South Africa, the problem is not as severe, but we have a long way to go before we can confidently say our mining industry is no longer haunted by the spectre of child labour.

One of the biggest issues is that mining is, and long has been, considered a flywheel of the South African economy. Despite increasing challenges, it is still one of the most significant contributors to our economy, accounting for just over 6% of our total GDP. In 2023, in the four key mining provinces of Limpopo, Mpumalanga, the North West Province, and the Northern Cape, mining was the largest economic sector, contributing between 20% and 30% of those provinces’ GDP.

According to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, it is a criminal offence to employ a child younger than 15, except in the performing arts with a permit from the Department of Labour. Children aged 15 to 18 may not be employed to do work inappropriate for their age, or work that places them at risk.

For years, however, this law has been hard to enforce and easy to ignore, especially when economic and social pressures meant a child was more useful to a family when they were working than when they were at school.

It’s gratifying, though, that the last few years have seen encouraging, if moderate, advancements in efforts to eliminate the worst forms of child labour in South Africa mines. In 2023, in cooperation with the ILO, the South African Department of Employment and Labour launched a new project aimed at identifying incidences of child labour. This included spending almost R6 million on training labour inspectors in Pretoria, Durban, Cape Town, and Pietermaritzburg.

The government also increased the Child Support Grant and the Foster Care Grant by four percent in an attempt to reduce child vulnerability.

An article on the government’s news website reads, “South Africa values the rights of children and has over the past 30 years sought to protect them from harm and promote their development. Protecting children from violence, exploitation and abuse is not only a basic right but an obligation set out in our Constitution.

“In June [2024], South Africa joined the international community in observing the World Day against Child Labour, under the theme: “Let’s Act on Our Commitments: End Child Labour.” The day also coincided with the 25th Anniversary of the Adoption of the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, which sets out to protect children against all forms of child labour. It also aims to prevent the use of children in armed conflict, prostitution, pornography, drug trafficking and participating in hazardous work.”

While encouraging, these efforts are not, however, anywhere near enough to fully address the issue of child labour. One of the key sticking points is, as always, education. When parents are unable to afford to send their children to school, they are forced to send them to work.

What’s clear is that governments alone cannot hope to effectively deal with the heinous practice of child labour. Africa is a continent plagued by corruption, mismanagement, conflict, disease and abject poverty – it simply has neither the resources nor, dare I say it, the will, to come down hard on those people perpetuating the problem.

Mining is too lucrative for governments – in South Africa, mining company taxes paid increased by 22% to R89.9 billion in 2023, while the PAYE paid by mining employees increased by 15% to R31.3 billion – to risk rocking the boat too severely.

Once again, therefore, it is up to the private sector – the companies clamouring for the minerals mining delivers – to take a stronger stand when it comes to responsible mining practices from their suppliers.

Thankfully, there are encouraging moves in this direction, although we are nowhere near out of the woods.

Successfully combatting child labour in the mining sector requires a collaborative and unified approach from multiple stakeholders, including governments, corporates, communities and the international market.

Increasingly, the manufacturers of electric vehicles (EVs) are being held accountable for the ethical and sustainable sourcing of the minerals used in their batteries. This is being driven by a combination of regulatory pressure, consumer demand, and corporate social responsibility initiatives.

Governments in Europe and the States are bringing in legislation requiring companies to conduct due diligence on their supply chains to ensure they are free from conflict minerals and to report any use to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This is a huge step in the right direction, helping to promote transparency and accountability.

In addition, many leading EV manufacturers, including Tesla, VW and BMW, have publicly made a commitment to implementing stricter supplier codes of conduct and conducting regular audits, among other initiatives.

On paper, this means ensuring the mining companies supplying the vital minerals they need follow safe and humane working conditions, ensuring workers are treated with respect and dignity.

An extract from a corporate document from Tesla, for example, reads, “In addition to the Tesla Supplier Code of Conduct, we also have the Human Rights and Responsible Materials policies that outline our expectations to all suppliers and partners with whom we work, as well as our commitment to responsible sourcing. We strictly follow all U.S. as well as foreign legal requirements and ask our supply base to do the same.”

In addition, many companies have partnered with organisations like the Responsible Cobalt Initiative and the Global Battery Alliance, which work together with NGOs, mining companies, and governments to address issues like child labour.

Technologies such as blockchain are also being used to enhance traceability in the supply chain, while advanced data analytics and AI are being employed to monitor and manage supply chains more effectively.

As host to some of the world’s richest and most in-demand mineral deposits, it is unforgivable that Africa’s children continue to pay the price for global greed. It is my sincerest hope that initiatives like the ones I’ve mentioned will become standard across all industries, not only mining, and that our children can once again be just that – children.

“There is no trust more sacred than the one the world holds with children. There is no duty more important than ensuring that their rights are respected, that their welfare is protected, that their lives are free from fear and want, and that they can grow up in peace.”

Kofi Annan