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Forced LaborArchive 2008–2016

Forced Labor in Ramotswa (2009)

A forced labor case from 2009 in Ramotswa, Botswana. 1 source on file.

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What happened

The Sunday Standard turned up information that the company Zheng Ming, which operated a sweatshop in Ramotswa, was part of an international trade in modern day slavery. Industrial Court Judge, Elijah Legwaila, would later rule that “it appears that Chinese nationals pay large sums of money to recruitment agencies who send them abroad with all sorts of promises...by the time such people land at any destination they have neither the money nor the bargaining power to protect their rights."

Response and intervention

Judge Legwaila was appointed to the case of Bin Quin Lin, a Chinese national working for Zheng Ming Knitwear, who was held in forced labour without pay. The outcome of this case is not cited. Sunday Standard journalist investigation. Ramotswa Labour Officer, Seabi Pilane, acknowledged that she was unable to make site visits to factories under her jurisdiction for inspection due to lack of adequate facilities, especially transport. She, however, referred The Sunday Standard to the Gaborone District Labour Office for details on labour inspections. Here is the link to the sunday standard article: http://www.sundaystandard.info/news/news_item.php?NewsID=2186&GroupID=1 Sunday Standard

Sources

Nearby cases

All 7 in Botswana →
Sex Trafficking2009

Gaborone, Botswana, 2009

Botswana BW

One local NGO received reports from Batswana women that they were forced to provide sexual services to tourists at some safari lodges; however, no complaints have been lodged with law enforcement officials. No other information is known about either the trafficker, the victims, or the specific location of the safari lodge/s.

1 sourceArchive 2008–2016
CSEC2006

Lobatse, Botswana, 2006

Botswana BW

The suspects are believed to be part of an organised smuggling ring that has been trafficking illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and Pakistan into Botswana. It is understood that the human trafficking operation in Botswana has contracts with small criminal rings and large scale organized criminals in Bangladesh and Pakistan who act as immigrant smuggling brokers to solicit individuals wanting to be smuggled out of their countries. “At the moment we are still trying to establish how they get into the country, where they come from and who helps them,” said Mathews Maduwane(Assistant Commissioner of Police and Deputy Director Criminal Investigations Department), adding that there were indications that some police officers, local labour consultants and Asian investors were part of the human smuggling web, but they had not been charged yet.

Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016
Sex Trafficking2009

Botswana (unknown), Botswana, 2009

Botswana BW

Botswana police are investigating a human trafficking ring thought to be responsible for trafficking more than 1000 Batswana from the country and selling them for cheap labour, sexual exploitation, servitude and debt bondage in Europe. Police investigations are focusing on Business Consultants who are believed to be spiders in the extensive web that is believed to have trafficked at least 1000 Batswana. A source close to the investigation believes that it is more. So far, eight business consultants and six other suspects believed to be part of the human trafficking ring are already in police custody.

1 sourceArchive 2008–2016