The state of child labour in mining

By Mnaku Mbani

Charles Karim (13) recently graduated his primary school education at Mgusu Primary School, in Geita region in September last year, with the hope of continuing with secondary level. “During my examinations, my determination was to pass and continue with secondary school level,” Karim says.

“If I will be selected to join secondary school; I will pursue science subjects to become a doctor because I want to help people.”

He said he want to become a doctor because he wants to help people with health problem in his society.

Karim comes from a poor family. He is the second born in a three children family. His father is a casual worker and his mother is housewife.

They are all living in Mgusu Township, a small town created after the discovery of gold, about fifty kilomentres from Geita Town, Lake Victoria zone.

The village started as a small mining camp for small scale gold miners. The village continued to grow because of population increase, and now is a small township.

It has a school, a dispensary, private businesses, guest houses, church and all other social services. The area is 24/7 busy.

After completing his primary education, Karim decided to work in mining as a temporary job, while waiting for the examination results.

His daily job is to collect waste rocks from the small scale mining pits, burning and crushing, before processing them to get a small quantity of gold.

As the results are now out, and Karim did not manage to do it on the list, he says he has no any possibility of joining private secondary school because his parents have no such financial capabilities.

Private schools costs about Tsh300,000 (about $150) to Tsh600,000 ($300) per term. But succeeding to get into public school, it costs you nothing, because education is free.

Speaking with African Independent, Karim says he works eight to twelve hours a day. He wants to collect money to repeat standard seven, and try his luck for another examination in September next year.

He starts by collecting waste rocks, he then crush them using hummer before washing them with water and mercury to extract gold. That process takes six to eight hours.

The quantity of gold he is getting, enable him to fetch Tsh10,000 ($5) per day. Half of the income he gives it to his parents and 20 per cent he spend for his own needs, while Tsh3000 is for food during working.

Mgusu has a lot of small scale miners, and Karim say he grew up in that village and he has seen many of the people succeeding from gold. And he was so ambitious that one day, the stone will give him a smile.

“I grew up learning how to mine. My father use to work as a stone crushing machine operator, so that moment gave me experiences to know mining,” he said.

He said he is working seven days a week. And sometime, he feels tired but because of poverty, he keeps going because he has no option.

On a monthly basis, Karim can make up to Tsh300,000 ($150), because not every day is a lucky day. Sometime he spends the whole day sweating and ends up getting nothing.

Karim say he is proud of his work because in just two months, he has managed to give his mother a capital to establish a small food shop.

However, the small investment has not yet changed his family life. This is due to the fact that the capital was low and the new business has its own risks on early stages.

He said he will continue mining for the next four months until March, when he will start looking for another school to repeat standard seven.

Karim has never broken his heart. He believes that one day he will make it to the secondary school. But, when asked what would be the next option, he said he is waiting for final round.

Karim is among of thousands of Tanzanian child involved in child labour. Mining and agriculture sectors account for the largest number of child labour.

However, Karim also joins millions of primary school graduates who have never continued with secondary level. Unlikely boys, girls end up being married because the marriage act 1970 allows it to happen.

The Integrated Labour Force Survey of 2006 indicates that more than 2.4 million children below 18 years are engaged in child labor in Tanzania; 591,846 are working in hazardous conditions primarily in commercial agriculture, mining and quarrying, domestic service, and commercial sex.

It shows that 18.4% or 2 out of every 10 children aged 5-17 years in Tanzania were involved in child labor, boys being more affected (20.7%) than girls (16.0%).

Last year, it was reported that more than 12,000 children as young as eight were rescued from small-scale gold mines in Tanzania since 2013, but the government admitted the issue remains a “serious problem” in Africa’s fourth-largest gold producer country..
Since 2012 a total of 12,187 children aged between eight and 16 have been withdrawn from working in gold mines in Geita and Nyang'hwale districts in the north of the east African country, according to Plan International.
The practice of employing children to perform dangerous mining work is considered among the worst forms of the illegal labour, according to several international agreements signed by Tanzania.
A 2013 report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) described the precarious conditions faced by children employed at illegal mines.
The document claimed boys were being used to “dig and drill in deep, unstable pits” for shifts as long as 24 hours, while girls were subject to sexual harassment and were often forced to become prostitutes.
The practice of child labour in dangerous mining work is considered among the worst forms of the practice, according to several international agreements signed by Tanzania.

Campaigners say children will still be in danger unless more is done to stop child labor in Geita where there is an abundance of small scale gold mines and weak policies and laws governing child labor.

When asked whether his family consider what he is currently doing as child labour, Karim said they do not think that way and he has all the blessing from his father.

“Everyone here is a miner, and we as children grow up learning how to mine and nothing else,” he said.

Karim says if he will not make it during next year in school, he will continue with mining. However, he knows what the dangers they are facing due to use of prohibited chemicals such as mercury.

“I have seen many people using mercury for years and years but I have never seen someone with health complications,” he said.

“And if this will happen, then it is your day.”

Although Tanzania has strong laws prohibiting child labor in mining, and has committed to an international agreement to prevent mercury exposure, thousands of children were forced to seek their survival in the search for gold.

As Karim is struggling on his own to make a living, there are millions of children in Tanzania who fail to get education because of poverty.

There are others who end up in child labour like Karim and there are others, especially girls who end up being married at young age because they have nothing to do in alternative to education.

END