The department of employment and labour said the hearing was postponed at the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court on Thursday to January 21.

During the hearing, the court heard that the accused provided false addresses of their residence, could not provide credible information on the leased property where they were arrested and have no fixed properties in South Africa. 

The investigating officer from the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (known as the Hawks) also told the court that she feared that they would interfere with witnesses.

Kevin Tsao, a naturalised South African, Chen Hui, Qin Li, Jiaqing Zhou, Ma Biao, Dai Junying, and Zhang Zhilian were arrested on November 12, following a tip-off that Chinese nationals were allegedly involved in the trafficking of illegal immigrants and subjecting them to forced labour.

They are facing charges of human trafficking, debt bondage, kidnapping and pointing of a firearm.

The State alleges that during a raid at the factory 91 Malawian nationals were found to be employed and 37 of them were children.

The Malawians were allegedly transported to South Africa through containers by a middleman known as 'the transporter'.

They were allegedly threatened with firearms, kept in the premises against their will and paid R6.50 per hour as opposed to the R20 per hour stipulated in the Minimum Wage Act.

African News Agency (ANA)