Human trafficking trial of seven Chinese nationals postponed due to language barrier

The trial of seven Chinese nationals arrested for alleged human trafficking and child labour was on Monday postponed in the High Court in Johannesburg to Friday next week as the court tries to secure a Mandarin interpreter.

“It emerged in court that the previous interpreter spoke Cantonese and the accused were battling to follow proceedings as they did not understand the language,” the department of employment and labour said. “Cantonese is one of the dialects of the Chinese language.”

The accused are Kevin Tsao Shu-Uei, Chen Hui, Qin Li, Jiaqing Zhou, Ma Biao, Dai Junying and Zhang Zhilian.

“In October 2021, the accused in a written statement read by their attorney Jannie Kruger made an admission of guilt for violation of several South Africa’s labour laws.

However, the other charges – to which they pleaded not guilty – still stand and they will continue to face trial on those.”

According to the department, charges include trafficking in persons, contravention of the Immigration Act, kidnapping and pointing a firearm.

Others are debt bondage, benefitting from the services of a victim of trafficking, conduct that facilitates trafficking, illegally assisting persons to remain in South Africa and failure to comply with the duties of an employer.

“In another development … Chen Hui, tried to flee South Africa using the Lebombo/Ressano Garcia border post,” it said, adding he was arrested last month and is in custody.

Zhilian is also in custody after she violated her bail conditions by trying to flee the country and was arrested at OR Tambo International Airport on 24 February, 2021.

The other accused are out on bail. They were arrested in 2019 for allegedly running an illegal enterprise called Beautiful City Pty Ltd, located at Village Deep, “allegedly processing the inner cotton of blankets using recycled clothing”, the department said.

The operation was led by the department’s Inspection and Enforcement Services with the South African Police Service Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation and the department of home affairs.

This article originally appeared on South African Government News Agency and was republished with permission.
Read the original article here.

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