PERSPECTIVES ON CHILD WORK
S.1 WORKING BACKGROUND
S.1.1 Learners' Characteristics
5.2 TYPE OF ACTIVITIES LEARNERS ARE INVOLVED IN
5.2.1 Selling
Most working learners are involved in selling activities in the infonnal sector of the economy. Learners sell snacks (e.g. sweets, peanuts), cooked food (e.g. cakes, fried fish, pies), cigarettes, dagga, and stolen goods. There are some stories behind the selling of illegal goods like cigarettes and dagga. Smoking is not allowed in schools; therefore, some precautionary measures need to be taken by learners when selling these commodities. Dagga is sold during school periods.
These are sold in the toilets whereas cigarettes can be sold even during breaks.
The reason is that teachers sometimes raid toilets during the breaks when they suspect something is amiss. Learners usually sell various stolen goods depending
on what is available at the time. Their commodities range from food, stationery, clothes, and bus-tickets for adults, to cellular phones, as well as airtime vouchers.
They use specific jargon when selling. In this school they say "ngiyadlulisa"
instead of saying "1 am selling ". This means that he/she is passing the items quickly away from him/her. The prices of their items are always very low. They sell to both learners and educators.
"Dagga merchants ", for this is what they are called, are easy to identify.
Whenever they go to the toilet they are followed by a number of boys. They are always moving up and down the verandah during teaching time or breaks. These are boys who are feared by other learners. They always carry cigarette lighters for their customers and they always carry their schoolbags. Teachers believed that one of the boys involved in this activity was at school only for business. He was always outside the classroom. It was indicated that generally if you sell these commodities you are a smoker. Learners who smoke know each other and their merchants. Learners who do not smoke hire those who smoke to sell cigarettes for them. This is problematic at times, as those hired can easily swindle you and you cannot report them since it is an illegal business. Selling cigarettes is very profitable. Girls who are in this business do it at home as they fear that the boys will take their stock without paying when they are at school.
Learners who sell cooked food explained that they either cook their food very early in the morning or the previous night. This is a very time consuming process.
Another participant who bakes pies every morning indicated he had to wake up as early as 04.30 in the morning. Learners are involved in a number of activities at the same time. For example, learners combine selling with other activities. Selling is usually a family business where more than one child in the family is involved.
5.2.2 Domestic Work
Gender also plays a part as boys and girls do different activities. For example, only boys are involved in car washing. Information from the questionnaire
revealed that more girls than boys are involved in domestic work (refer to Figures 14 and 15). In fact, only 2 boys indicated that they were doing domestic work.
During interviews only one boy indicated that he is involved in domestic work.
Figure 14. Boys' Activities
Car wash 2 10,5
Domestic 2 10,5
Gardener 2 10,5
Sellin Ci arettes 4 21
oods 3 15,9
Sellin Sweets 4 21
Taxi Conductor 5,3
Securit 5,3
Total 19 100
Figure 15. Girls' Activities
Catering 3 7,1
Domestic 10 23,8
Scaven ers 3 7,1
Hair business 5 11,9
Sellin ci arettes 2,4
Sellin dru s 2,4
Sellin sweets 12 8,6
Sex worker 6 14,3
Missin 2,4
Total 42 100
The type of domestic work boys are involved in is unique. One participant who sells sweets at school indicated that he also takes care of a physically challenged pensioner. He cleans him and takes him to the pension pay point. He is paid RlOO a month for this. He has 3 other pensioners who are paid on different days. He stands in the queue for them on their payday. He does this before coming to school. He waits in the queue from as early as 50' clock until 70' clock in the morning when the pensioner joins the queue. From there he rushes to school. He is paid R20 for this.
Some girls indicated that they were caregivers of young children. They were fully responsible for these children. In instances when the children are sick, the girls miss school to take them to the doctor or clinic. They even take those who are of school-going age to school and pick them up after school. This finding is in line with that of a study done on learners from families living in a single room in Clermont Township (Mncwabe, 1999). Some girls also take care of sick relatives.
5.Z.3 Mobile Street Traders
Only boys in this study were involved in mobile street trades like car washing, parking assistance, and guarding vehicles. During interviews they described being chased and sjamboked (beaten with a leather strap) by police who consider them to be thieves. A particular boy told a very sad story of how he left school in the middle of the previous year. He was lucky enough to get more money than the others do. This resulted in elder boys in the township forcing him to pay a fee for using their street when going to school. Ennew (1985) in her study found that such occupations had the lowest correlation with school success. She further indicated that juvenile factory workers and newspaper vendors found it hard to sustain their studies. In this particular study, there is only one factory worker and no newspaper vendors. Bullying is highlighted as causing children to drop out of school. In the street, girls only work as street vendors and peddlers (collecting card boards) and not a single girl is involved in car washing, taxi conducting or
guarding of cars. This is in line with the survey of juvenile streetworkers by De Sanchez (1984), who indicated that only 9% of street workers in this category were girls. Thus, it appears that girls are excluded or not involved from certain street services.