The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) supports the call for life imprisonment of seven Chinese nationals convicted of human trafficking and child labour.

The prosecution in the case of seven Chinese nationals who were arrested in November 2019, after a joint raid found 91 undocumented Malawian nationals, 37 of whom were children, locked in a factory in Village Deep, Johannesburg has pleaded with the court to put them behind bars for life. The Hawks, South African Police Service, Department of Employment and Labour and Home Affairs discovered the captured Malawian nationals when they raided the Beautiful City factory following a tip-off.

Kevin Tsao Shu-Uei, Chen Hi, Qin Li, Jiaqing Zhou, Ma Biao, Dai Junying and Zhang Zhilain were convicted of human trafficking, kidnapping and violating labour regulations in February this year, for making the Malawian nationals work for 11 hours a day, seven days a week under armed guard, paying them far less than minimum wage.

Human trafficking is termed modern slavery; and is defined as the act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harbouring, or receiving individuals using force, fraud or coercion for the purpose of exploitation. This exploitation may include forced labour, sexual slavery or other forms. It is considered a grievous violation of human rights.

It is for this reason that COSATU supports the call for life imprisonment in this case, moreover as some of the victims were children. The Federation joined the commemoration of National Day Against Child Labour on 8 August and noted that child labour robs children of proper development and the opportunity to pursue the education they need to uplift them.     

Following recent reports of young South Africans being lured into human trafficking schemes outside the country, COSATU along with the Department of International Relations and Cooperation warned young people to thoroughly verify overseas job opportunities to avoid falling prey to these perilous schemes disguised as legitimate prospects.    

COSATU urges the South Gauteng High Court to make an example of the seven Chinese nationals by handing down the harshest sentence possible to deter others from operating human trafficking schemes in our constitutional democracy. The Federation calls on the Department of Employment and Labour to ramp up site inspections of workplaces to combat human trafficking and child labour.

Issued by COSATU

Zanele Sabela (COSATU National Spokesperson)
Mobile: 079 287 5788 or 077 600 6639
Email: zaneles@cosatu.org.za