/ MEDIA STATEMENT / The content on this page is not written by Polity.org.za, but is supplied by third parties. This content does not constitute news reporting by Polity.org.za.

The Johannesburg Magistrates Court will make its ruling in the long-drawn matter of seven Chinese nationals arrested last November for alleged human trafficking and violation of South Africa’s labour laws.     

Magistrate Basimane Molwana said he does no longer want to see the accused in the Court over the bail application.

Molwana had on 08 June 2020 expressed his frustrations of the delays in finalising the bail hearing.

The seven accused in the matter - Kevin Tsao, Chen Hui, Qin Li, Jiaqing Zhou, Ma Biao, Dai Junying, and Zhang Zhilian – have since November after their arrest been applying for bail. 

The Chinese nationals were on 20 March 2020 denied the initial bail in the long-drawn hearing. As a result the  defence decided to lodge a second bail attempt on new facts. On May 25 the Magistrate ruled that there were grounds for defence to apply for second bail. The Prosecution had dismissed the submission by defence of a second bail attempt as the “reshuffling of old arguments as new facts”.

Magistrate Molwana ruled that while COVID-19 was not a new ground to lodge bail on new facts, but the lockdown was a new ground to apply for bail.  

The seven accused appearing in the matter were arrested for allegedly running an illegal enterprise called Beautiful City Pty Ltd located at Village Deep in Johannesburg. 

The seven Chinese - four males and three females were arrested on 12 November 2019 in a joint operation conducted by the Department of Employment and Labour’s Inspection and Enforcement Services (IES) branch in Gauteng together with the South African Police Services (SAPS), Department of Home Affairs and the Hawks Unit. 

Their arrests followed a tip-off that the Chinese nationals were allegedly involved in the trafficking of illegal immigrants into South Africa and subjecting them to forced labour.

During the joint blitz 91 Malawian nationals were found in the factory, 37 of them were children. During the bail hearing the Court heard that the Malawians working in the Chinese factory were transported to South Africa using containers. The Malawians are alleged to have been brought to South Africa by a middleman known as “the transporter” who is still on the run. 

The Chinese factory was allegedly processing the inner cotton of blankets using recycled clothing. It is alleged that the company’s operations were carried out behind closed high steel gates with access strictly controlled by employers. Workers were also allegedly exposed to appalling working conditions without adhering to occupational health and safety.  

In an affidavit submitted by the SAPS/Hawks in Court, the authorities intend to charge the accused with schedule six offence. The accused will face charges ranging from human trafficking, violation of Immigration Act, debt bondage, kidnapping and pointing of a firearm. The Department of Employment and Labour has since joined in the matter to press for the prosecution of the accused for violating South Africa’s labour laws.  

Today the defence and the State presented their arguments in a highly charged atmosphere.

Attorney representing the accused Jan Kruger told the Court that defence was of the view that any delays to the matter would not serve justice, that keeping the accused in prison exposes them to COVID-19 and that media reports suggest that conditions in prisons due to non-supply of personal protective equipment, chronic overcrowding - exposed the accused to contracting the disease.

He further told the Court that the accused had not been served with indictment and that they were not a flight risk because of closed borders.

“The fact is that the virus comes like a thief at night. We don’t know when it will come,” said Kruger.

Prosecutor Advocate Dube responded that the State had a strong case in that if convicted the accused faced a life imprisonment. Dube said that that the accused violated Immigration Act makes them a flight risk. She said there was nothing tying the accused to South Africa. 

Advocate Dube said the Courts must not be swayed by media reports as presented by Kruger, but by facts. 

The accused have been remanded in custody. Molwana is expected to make the ruling on the second bail attempt on 24 June 2020.

Issued by GCIS on behalf of the Department of Employment and Labour