Lawyer for Chinese human trafficking accused threatens to withdraw due to lack of funds

The trial of seven Chinese nationals charged with human trafficking and child labour was on Monday postponed until Thursday to allow the accused to raise funds to pay for their legal representation. 

The lawyer for all the accused told the Johannesburg high court that the first accused, Kevin Tsao Shu-Uei, has failed on his commitment to ensure payments.

The lawyer said he had previously warned the accused that he would pull out of the matter because of a lack of financial instruction. 

Other accused are Chen Hui, Qin Li, Jiaqing Zhou, Ma Biao, Dai Junying and Zhang Zhilian. 

The department of employment and labour said the accused were arrested after a joint operation carried out at their premises of a company called Beautiful City Pty Ltd located at Village Deep, Johannesburg.

They were arrested on November 12 2019 in a joint operation by the department’s inspection and enforcement services branch with the police and the department of home affairs. 

“The joint operation uncovered illegal immigrants, some of whom were minors who are alleged to have been about 15 at the time, and subjected to horror working conditions and kept in the locked premises. Most of the migrants were Malawian nationals and others were Zimbabweans,” department spokesperson Teboho Thejane said. 

The accused face counts of human trafficking, contravention of the Immigration Act, kidnapping, pointing a firearm, debt bondage, benefiting from the services of a victim of trafficking, conduct that facilitates trafficking, illegally assisting people remain in South Africa and failure to comply with duties of an employer. 

Chen Hui and Zhang Zhilian are in custody for violating their bail conditions. The other five accused are out on bail. 

TimesLIVE