Employment and Labour deputy minister welcomes sentences in child labour, human trafficking case
Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour, Jomo Sibiya, has welcomed the sentences handed down in a human trafficking and child labour case.
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Employment and Labour deputy minister, Jomo Sibiya, has welcomed the finalisation of a human trafficking and child labour case in which seven Chinese nationals have been sentenced to at least 20 years each in prison.
The ruling was handed down by the Gauteng South Division of the High Court in Johannesburg on Wednesday.
In a statement, the Employment and Labour department outlined the sentencing proceedings saying Judge D Mhango had described the offences as grave violations of human rights and South Africa’s laws.
The convicted group, Kevin Tsao Shu-Uei, Chen Hui, Qin Li, Jiaqing Zhou, Ma Biao, Dai Junying, and Zhang Zhilian, were in February this year found guilty on 158 of 160 counts, including human trafficking, aiding and facilitating human trafficking, bondage, benefiting from trafficking, and employing illegal immigrants.
The court also detailed the abuse suffered by victims, many of them foreign nationals.
The judge said they were “lured into the country, kept in bondage and forced into buying from an in-house tuckshop at exorbitant prices, subjected to long working hours, and had no right to sick leave.”
The judge also highlighted cases where victims were injured while operating machinery including losing their eyesight and limbs. He added that the factory also employed minors.
In their defence, the accused claimed that a “Mr Chang” owned the factory, but Mhango ruled this did not absolve them. “They acted in furtherance of the employers’ interests,” he said.
He also dismissed a plea for leniency from one of the accused, who is wheelchair-bound after a stroke, noting that the individual failed to furnish the court with a detailed medical report and only provided a sick note.
Sentences were imposed across multiple counts, ranging from one to 20 years, but will run concurrently. The heaviest penalties were attached to the human trafficking charges. The company, Beautiful City (Pty) Ltd, was fined R300 000.
The case dates back to 12 November 2019, when the seven were arrested during a joint inspection at Beautiful City’s factory in Village Deep, Johannesburg.
The operation was carried out by the Department of Employment and Labour’s Inspection and Enforcement Services branch, the Hawks, and the Department of Home Affairs, following a tip-off.
Commenting on the case, deputy minister Sibiya said the sentencing today was a taste of what will happen in the future to those who violate the laws of the country.
He commended the joint efforts of inter-government co-operation, which involved the department, the police, and Home Affairs