Although the Probation Officers in the trial of seven Chinese nationals found guilty of human trafficking and child labour have presented to the Court several alternatives to consider in the sentencing, most recommended “direct imprisonment as appropriate punishment".
Today (4 September 2025), the Probation Officers presented their pre-sentencing report before the Gauteng South Division of the High Court in Johannesburg in the trial of seven Chinese nationals. The purpose of the reports is to assist the Court to impose appropriate sentence.
The seven Chinese nationals appearing in the matter are: Kevin Tsao Shu-Uei, Chen Hui, Qin Li, Jiaqing Zhou, Ma Biao, Dai Junying, and Zhang Zhilian. The accused were facing schedule six offences and were on 25 February 2025 found guilty on 160 counts.
The pre-sentencing reports in the main focused on the upbringing, health and psycho-social status, educational background, social and emotional skills, among others, and concluded with recommendations.
One of the Probation Officers in the matter argued before the Court that the sentencing should consider the seriousness of harm and culpability of the offender. The Officers argued that there were other alternative sentences to consider such as correctional supervision, suspended sentence, fines – however, given the severity of the charges, these would be inappropriate.
Two of the accused (accused one and two) have previous convictions.
The Chinese nationals were found guilty of violating South Africa's labour laws by not registering with the Compensation Fund and declaring their operations; failure to keep records of their earnings; failure to submit their return on earnings; failure to pay and declare assessments; failure to maintain a safe workplace; failure to report incidents; failure to register and declare with Unemployment Insurance Fund Commissioner; failure to inform the Commissioner on Unemployment Insurance changes.
They were also found guilty of human trafficking, aiding/facilitating human trafficking, bondage, benefiting from victims of human trafficking, and assisting illegal immigrants to remain in South Africa.
The accused were arrested on 12 November 2019 in a joint operation carried out at their “ugly" enterprise — Beautiful City Pty Ltd — based at Village Deep in Johannesburg. The joint inspection blitz was carried out by the Department of Employment and Labour's Inspection and Enforcement Services (IES) branch together with the South African Police Service (SAPS) Hawks Unit and the Department of Home Affairs, following a tip-off.
The matter proceeds tomorrow (5 September 2025) for further arguments. The accused were remanded in custody, except for accused number six (Dai Junying), who is out on medical grounds.
Enquiries:
Teboho Thejane
Departmental Spokesperson
Cell: 082 697 0694
E-mail: teboho.thejane@labour.gov.za
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