Chinese citizens were imprisoned in South Africa for abduction and forced labor of Malavis

Seven Chinese citizens who smuggled Malaviks to South Africa and subjected them to forced labor were transferred to a 20-year prison term.

Four men and three women were found guilty of trafficking in human beings earlier this year.

Their sentence comes almost six years after they were arrested when the local authorities searched the factory in Johannesburg and found 91 citizens of Malawi, 37 of them who work in horrific conditions.

According to the government, human trafficking causes the main problem in South Africa when the country is considered as “source, transit and purpose”.

Group – Kevin Tsao, Chen Zui, Ting Lee, Jiakin Zhou, Ma Biao, Dai Juning and Zhang Zilian – were found guilty of 158 of the 160 articles they were accused.

This includes the assistance of illegal immigrants to remain in South Africa and violate the country’s labor legislation without registering their activities and keeping accounting for their profits among others.

The factory raid came after the authorities received a hint from the employee who was avoided.

It was later revealed that employees were forced to work with an 11-hour change, seven days a week, without proper training and security equipment.

They were also paid much lower than the minimum wage in South Africa of $ 1.64 (1.22 pounds) per hour and were wages if they wanted to rest.

According to the South Africa’s work legislation, employees cannot work for more than nine hours a day and are usually entitled to a “weekly rest period of at least 36 consecutive hours”, which includes Sunday if another agreement is reached.

One man testified that the workers were not allowed to leave strongly protected premises, even to buy the food he called dirty and unfit for humans.

According to the authorities, the victims were smuggling into the country in shipping containers.

Mr. Cao worked as a head at the plant called a beautiful city, and his co-author was the leaders, according to the local website news24. The factory is made internal cotton for blankets using recycled material.

The South Africa’s persecution department greeted the verdict, saying it would help “strengthen our fight against trafficking in human beings.”

“Trafficking in human beings in our country, we have become a place like South Africa for trafficking in human beings (by) different reasons, including our porcupine borders,” said Findi Menondwwan’s press.

The Labor Department, which was a raid in 2019, also welcomed the verdict handed down as it called for greater cooperation between the state agencies to “eradicate all these issues”.