A witness in the trial of seven Chinese nationals who are facing charges including human trafficking refused to take the stand in the Johannesburg High Court this week citing safety concerns.
The seven accused face several counts of human trafficking, contravention of the Immigration Act, kidnapping, pointing of a firearm, debt bondage, benefiting 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.
The accused are Kevin Tsao Shu-Uei, Chen Hui, Qin Li, Jiaqing Zhou, Ma Biao, Dai Junying and Zhang Zhillian. The septet, all Chinese nationals was arrested on November 12, 2019 in a joint operation carried out at the premises of a company called Beautiful City Pty Ltd based at Village Deep in Johannesburg.
The operations were conducted by the Department of Employment and Labour’s Inspection and Enforcement Services (IES) branch together with the South African Police Services (SAPS)/Hawks Unit and the Department of Home Affairs.
During the operation, the law enforcement officers uncovered illegal immigrants, some of whom were minors working under unhealthy and unsafe conditions. They were kept locked up in the factory, which produced cotton fibre sheets.
Five of the accused are out on bail and the other two are in custody for violating their bail conditions – by trying to skip the country. They were issued new passports by the Chinese Embassy while the NPA still kept their travel documents seized during their arrest.
One witness made a U-turn over fear to take the stand while the other cited private business commitments in Limpopo.
Phindi Mjonondwane, National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson, said the witness was not yet named in court.
“Pursual will depend on the evidence that the witness had. If the defence feels that they had gathered enough evidence without the witness, they can stand back but if the evidence is needed then the witness should be convinced to take the stand,” said Mjonondwane.
The court also heard the factory allegedly failed to pay its employees in accordance with the National Minimum Wage Act, violated health regulations, and depended on child labour.
In a shocking testimony, Tsao Shu-Uei took the stand and revealed the factory never paid taxes and claimed they were unaware that employees needed to be registered for the unemployment insurance fund (UIF).
The amount claimed on the employer for UIF contributions and for employees was a total of R7. 656 -million, which includes R261 231 for unemployment insurance contributions and R659 879 for compensation fund annual assessments.
The rest of the amounts include national minimum wage for underpayment of prescribed hourly wage at R4 .66-million and R2.070-million basic conditions of employment in unpaid Sunday work.
The company also failed to register workers for Occupational Injuries and Diseases. This means that employees injured at work had to find means to cover their medical care from their own pockets.
Tsao Shu-Uei denied claims that he recruited anyone below the age of 18 and that employees were locked inside the factory and had to send someone if there were necessities needed from the shops. This is despite Dick Matola, a 14-year-old minor employee at the time, testifying that he was indeed an employee at Beautiful City.
The Department of Employment and Labour revealed at least 15 undocumented minors were working at the hellhole factory by the time of the arrest.
Two accused remain under custody after attempts to skip the country, while five are out on bail.
