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TimesLIVE reports that the Johannesburg High Court has sentenced seven Chinese nationals to an effective 20 years in prison after they were found guilty of a raft of charges related to running a factory that treated its staff inhumanely.
The company, Beautiful City, was fined R300,000. The case stems from a 2019 government inspection of the factory in Village Deep, which produced cotton sheets. The staff were found to be illegal immigrants, mostly Malawians, who were subjected to “horrific” working conditions. Some of the workers were about 15 years old. The seven suspects were convicted on 160 charges in February this year. The offences included human trafficking; bondage; assisting illegals to remain in SA; not registering with the Compensation Fund; failure to keep records of earnings; failure to maintain a safe workplace; and a host of labour law infringements.
In his ruling on Wednesday, Judge David Mhango said human trafficking, kidnapping and bonded labour were among the gravest crimes a court could deal with. He described how the victims were held against their will in squalid conditions. Although he acknowledged that the accused were largely acting under the instructions of a man known as Mr Chen, who has not been arrested, Mhango said the aggravating circumstances outweighed any mitigation. Mhango imposed multiple sentences across the various counts, with the longest being 20 years for human trafficking. He ordered that the sentences would run concurrently, leaving the seven with an effective two decades behind bars.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Khodani Mpilo & Sinesipho Habana at TimesLIVE
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