SOUTH Africans are increasingly being lured into forced labour abroad, enticed by offers of tax free dollar salaries, free accommodation and the prospect of international travels.
However, a human rights organisation says it's time that the SA government turns its attention to these employment agencies and schools who trap unsuspecting workers by changing their conditions of service and job requirements at will, threatening them with huge penalties or preventing them from leaving the country.
The Port Shepstone Human Rights Centre has expressed its concern over the plight of South African employees who remain trapped, particularly in Saudi Arabia.
Spokesman Selvan Chetty said it was time for the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) to get involved.
“We have noted increasing reports of mainly young women who are lured to Saudi Arabia on what we now suspect to be intentional, deliberate and false promises and fake contracts by so-called " recruitment agents".
He said last year the centre assisted a young woman who was “basically trapped” in Saudi Arabia.
Chetty said the woman had signed a "contract" in SA which was totally different to what she actually found when she arrived in Riyadh.
“Her accommodation was terrible. Pests and vermin, as well as filthy bedding and broken furniture greeted her on arrival. The agent who recruited her did not respond to her pleas for help. In addition her salary promised did not match what the employing school was actually paying. It was far less, and she was expected to pay her own living expenses.”
Chetty said the woman wanted to leave Saudi Arabia but she needed an exit permit from her employer who refused to sign it until she had paid a huge amount of money to cover her "expenses" such as flights and agent costs, said Chetty.
The Sunday Tribune recently reported on an identical case of an unemployed Westville mother, Naadia Sheik Hameed, who went to Saudi Arabia to support her family.
However, when Hameed arrived there the terms and conditions of her contract were vastly different to what she had signed up for. At the time the woman who shared her apartment managed to raise R90 000 to “buy out” her teaching contract so that she could return home. However, despite several medical conditions largely caused by the stress she is currently under, Hameed has still not been granted an exit visa by her employee who also wants her to pay big money before they allow her to leave the country.
Her family says they have appealed to Dirco for help but to date they haven't been able to resolve the matter.
Chetty says the Port Shepstone Human Rights Centre has been trying to assist Sheik Hameed.
He said in the previous case they investigated the matter and raised concerns with Dirco and various politicians at home and in Saudi Arabia.
“It was an uphill battle as the South African authorities tried to shirk their responsibilities saying that this was a contractual matter between employer and employee. We contend that this is not the case. Our young people are being misled into signing a fake contract to get them to a foreign country. Once there, the recruitment agents and the so-called employer schools change the original contract and give them a fraction of what was promised,” said Chetty.
He said when the employee requests permission to leave, the employer and associates hold them hostage by not granting them an exit visa, thereby forcing them to work against their will.
He says they believe it's a form of human trafficking and have urged the government, in particular Dirco, to assist South Africans who are in distress in a foreign country.
“They have a duty and responsibility to act and support South African citizens who were taken to a foreign country under what can only be described as false pretences. This is no different to a kidnapper who lures children away with incentives. We are calling for a full investigation into these recruitment agents, and their operations,” Chetty said.
He accused the government of not doing enough to warn South African of the pitfalls of these contracts.
“Unless I'm missing something, there's nothing in law that prevents the South African officials from writing to them to say release them, because that's what the Saudis are asking for,” said Chetty.
Horror stories of overseas jobs gone wrong are plentiful on social media, and those in Saudi Arabia appear to be more vocal.
Messages posted by teachers in Saudi Arabia include; “More like a prison, always creating issues about travelling during semester breaks. Toxic environment.” Others say, “You're expected to be a robot. Sick leave is bashed. You're often called in to work during public holidays, but there's often nothing to do.”
However, the problem is not limited to the Middle East. Last year a South African teacher in China posted a message on social media after her employer allegedly punched her in the eye, took her phone and tried to prevent her from leaving a school.
In a tearful message she said that many South Africans were working in similar circumstances but had no choice but to stay there.
Recently Gift of the Givers CEO Dr Imtiaz Sooliman told Sunday Tribune that they often got calls from distressed citizens looking for help to get them out of a country. He said previously requests came from Dubai, Thailand and Saudi Arabia. “It's always the same issue, governments don't get involved and people wait a very long time,” Sooliman said.
According to the International Labour Organization(ILO), forced labour is a multi-billion industry affecting adults and children across the world.
The ILO’s 2022 statistics show that 28 million people worldwide are in forced labour. It says 63% of forced labour happens in the private economy which generates 236 billion US dollars in illegal profits each year.
Repeated attempts to get comment from Dirco were unsuccessful.