The calls were made this week, by the National Coordinator of Towards the Elimination of Child Labour in Botswana project, Marianyana Selelo, at a workshop on child labour for police officers and social workers from the north east and central districts. "According to the study that was carried out in 2004, 8.5 percent of the working population are children aged between seven and 17 years and the majority of them are males. About 66.1 percent of them are in the Agricultural sector.
It was also established that the Central District was leading in child labour, followed by North east," said Selelo. A participant, assistant Superintendent Wazha Zambezi of Shoshong Police said there are some ranch owners in his policing area that break the law by hiring children. "The laws of this country are also silent when it comes to child labour. It is hard to convict someone abusing them. The adults employed on these farms can also not attest that their children are working," said Zambezi. selelo emphasized the need for all stakeholders to tackle child labour at all costs. She observed that some people are guilty of child labour, albeit unintentionally. She told participants that Botswana does not have a universal definition of a child and said there is a need for stakeholders to differentiate child labour from child work.
