The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) welcomes the 20-year effective sentence for each of the seven Chinese nationals convicted of human trafficking and child labour by the South Gauteng High Court.

COSATU previously supported the call by the prosecution for the group of seven to be imprisoned for life after they were found guilty of human trafficking, kidnapping, and violating labour regulations in February this year.

Kevin Tsao Shu-Uei, Chen Hi, Qin Li, Jiaqing Zhou, Ma Biao, Dai Junying and Zhang Zhilain were arrested in November 2019, after a joint raid found 91 undocumented Malawian nationals, some of whom were children, locked in the Beautiful City factory in Village Deep, Johannesburg. The Malawian nationals were reportedly forced to work for 11 hours a day, seven days a week under armed guard, while being paid far less than minimum wage.

COSATU hopes that the sentence handed down will send a strong message to would-be traffickers that this is a serious crime and violation of human rights and will be confronted by the full might of the law.

The Federation commends the Hawks, South African Police Service, Department of Employment and Labour and Home Affairs for acting decisively on the tip-off that led to the discovery of the captured Malawian nationals.

COSATU urges the Department of Employment and Labour to ramp up site inspections of workplaces to combat human trafficking and child labour. We stand ready to support the department in every way to help eradicate this scourge.       

Issued by COSATU

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