WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2008-06-28 Time: 17:00:05 Posted By: Jan
By Chiara Carter
Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana has done it again – accusing Chinese employers of grossly violating workers’ rights and challenging the Chinese Association of SA (Casa) to distance itself from violations perpetrated by these employers.
Meanwhile, MP Sherry Shen has said the minister’s generalisations are “unfair and unjust” and a “major insult to all Chinese communities around the world”.
This comes after Casa referred controversial comments Mdladlana made earlier this week about local Chinese to the Human Rights Commission. The association recently won an application in the Pretoria High Court to be included in the definition of “black people” and the previously disadvantaged.
| ‘so what should the coloureds speak, I ask of the minister?’ |
Earlier this week, Mdladlana reportedly told media that Chinese employers could no longer pretend that they could not speak English when labour inspectors confronted them about mistreating workers.
Addressing the 21st annual Labour Law Conference in Johannesburg, Mdladlana reiterated examples of bad Chinese employers.
These included an incident in Newcastle where a female employee was forced to give birth at her workplace because the company locked staff in the factory overnight, and a Botshabelo employer who opted to relocate to Lesotho rather than comply with South Africa’s labour laws.
Dismissing claims he was “anti-Chinese”, the minister said that in all the incidents that he had cited the employers had been Chinese.
“When the Newcastle employer was visited by inspectors following that incident, he ordered them not to communicate in English. Whether he was from China, Taiwan or wherever I don’t know. All I know is that he is a Chinese,” Mdladlana said.
The minister said that throughout his 10 years as minister he had always spoken strongly against any employer trampling on the rights of workers. “What I said against the Chinese employers, I have said against farmers, contractors, retailers and so on.”
He said the judge had made a wise decision in declaring South African Chinese people as previously disadvantaged. “I’m still saying we had also acted wisely by not opposing this decision because the critical point for us in the department of labour is that an employer is an employer – regardless of their colour, race or origin.”
Reacting to reports that he has been reported to the Human Rights Commission for his comments, the minister said his stance on workers’ rights being human rights was well documented.
Shen said many Chinese were business entrepreneurs and as such greatly contributed to South Africa’s economy through creating vast employment as well as contributing to tax revenue.
“The minister assumed that coloureds do not speak Chinese, so what should the coloureds speak, I ask of the minister? Coloured? Expecting all Chinese people to speak English or Zulu would be equivalent to expecting all African people to speak Afrikaans. Is that truly what the minister is implying?” she queried.
Shen said the Chinese who brought the court application were seeking justice and clarification since South African Chinese had been discriminated against prior to 1994.
Chinese organisations have pointed out there is a difference between South Africans who are of Chinese descent and recent immigrants.
China is a major trading partner of South Africa.