A Warrant Officer told Court in the Chinese trial on human trafficking and child labour that all ‘complainants’ did not have papers to be in South Africa
A Warrant Officer testified in the Johannesburg High Court that the Malawian nationals rescued at Beautiful City factory owned by the Chinese nationals did not have papers to be in South Africa.
SAPS Warrant Office Lulama Kona told the Court that of the 97 Malawians that she arrested on 12 November did not have papers to be in the country, and these included the 16 minors. She said all the Malawians were males.
Kona was testifying in the trial of seven Chinese nationals arrested on 12 November 2019 in a joint Departmental operation after police received a tip-off about a factory involved in human trafficking and labour exploitation.
The accused in the trial are: Kevin Tsao Shu-Uei, Chen Hui, Qin Li, Jiaqing Zhou, Ma Biao, Dai Junying, and Zhang Zhilian. The accused are facing schedule six offences.
The Investigating Officer said she was informed about the operation to Beautiful City on the same day of the blitz in the morning. She said this was not unusual for authorities when conducting sensitive operations.
Asked why she concluded that the Malawians were 'complainants' and 'victims' of human trafficking, Kona told the Court that when taking their statements, they had told her that they were not allowed to leave Beautiful City factory premises, were subjected to long working hours, that when they complained they were subjected to beatings or had a firearm pointed at them.
Furthermore, the 'complainants', she said told her that they were forced to buy their groceries at inflated prices at a spaza located inside the factory premises, and that unauthorised money was deducted from their income.
Kona dismissed suggestions that the Malawians that had testified in the trial were promised a 'legal stay' in the country to do so. She said the Malawians that were rescued at Beautiful City have since been repatriated back home and this happened in December 2022. During their stay in South Africa they were taken care of at a place of safety by the Department of Social Development, Kona said.
The Chinese are facing counts of human trafficking, contravention of Immigration Act, kidnapping, pointing a firearm, debt bondage, benefitting from the services of a victim of trafficking, conduct that facilitates trafficking, illegally assisting person(s) to remain in South Africa, and failure to comply with duties of an employer.
Five of the accused are out on bail. The other two accused Chen Hui (number 2) and Zhang Zhilian (number 7) are now in custody for violating their bail conditions. The two tried on separate occasions to flee the country and were nabbed.
It has since emerged in Court that accused 7 arrested at OR Tambo International Airport tried to escape and the Chinese Embassy was informed that the accused has been flagged. The accused escaped despite having relinquishing her passport to the Investigating Officer as one of bail conditions.
The matter has been remanded to Thursday (06 April).
For more information, contact:
Teboho Thejane - Departmental Spokesperson
Cell: 082 697 0694
Email: Teboho.Thejane@labour.gov.za
