Emaswati trafficked, exploited
‘‘Most recently, over 200 emaSwati were arrested in South Africa after it was discovered that they were working without permits by the police and labour officials.”
MBABANE – After leaving the country for greener pastures in South Africa, some workers were made to work without pay and later reported as illegal immigrants by their employers.
An undisclosed number of emaSwati were reportedly arrested on their payday after the employers called the police on them. Others, who were able to escape, spent the nights hiding in a forest in one of the provinces.
The workers left the country through the informal crossings after they were promised employment by some South African nationals. Speaking on conditions of anonymity, some of the workers revealed that they were called and promised employment without work permits in some of the companies in the neighbouring country.
They said they were eventually employed by one of the companies and no one requested them to produce valid work permits.
INTRODUCED
“We spent a few days before we were introduced to our new working environment. We then looked for accommodation in a form of a commune and used the last money we had to pay rent. It was not only emaSwati but also Mozambican and Lesotho nationals who were also awarded jobs under the same conditions such as ours,” narrated one of the workers.
She said they were excited to start working and they were optimistic that their lives were going to change for the better. She narrated that trouble began when they heard that they have hit their target and the textile owners started ill-treating them.
She highlighted that they were promised a remuneration fee of E25 per hour. She said they were all given a specific instruction to hit their target as the company’s customers had demanded that the products be delivered before this Christmas. She revealed that the company they were working for was in the textile and apparel industry.
According to the workers, what puzzled them was that the emaSwati and Basotho, who had organised for them the jobs, had valid work permits.
“When we found out that the recruiting agents who brought us to the company had work permits, we began to have a lot of questions. Since we were desperate for jobs, we stopped asking questions especially because we were aware of the dire conditions which awaited us in the event we got back to our countries of origin. We continued and worked and we got paid for the first and the second months. After we have hit our target, our supervisors then began mistreating us at every opportunity they got. We suspected that this was a plot to get us to abandon our employment without getting paid our wages,” disclosed a worker.
KNOCKING
The textile workers narrated that it was just a week before they got paid their wages when a labour officer accompanied by the South African police came knocking at our rented residence and arrested some of us. Others were lucky as they were not in their houses and were able to escape when they heard that the cops were looking for them.
“We were puzzled as to how the police were able to locate the place of our residence. We suspect that the people who hooked us up for this job were working hand-in-hand with the owners of the companies in getting rid of us. We suspect that the plan was to get rid of us through deportation and keep the money which they were supposed to remunerate us with. By not paying us they saved a lot of money and we are very much sure that the officers in the South African labour office are also implicated in this scam,” claimed another worker.
Spokesperson in the Ministry of Labour in South Africa, Nhlanhla Khumalo, when asked if it was true that there were companies and some labour officers who are conniving to traffic emaSwati and Basotho under the guise of employment said that the
Employment and Labour Department does not have a mandate of arresting anyone but to inspect and enforce labour regulations.
“Inspection and enforcement drives may be activated with the assistance of other sister departments such as Home Affairs and South African Police Services,” pointed out Khumalo.