SA: COSATU outraged at workers abuse

  1. Posted on Wednesday 21 January 2009 - 12:40
    Justice Zhou
    Image of Justice Zhou
    Justice Zhou, AfricaNews reporter in Johannesburg, South Africa Photo: John Lindhout
    The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) has expressed outrage at the abuse of migrant Zimbabwean workers by Gavin Radcliffe who owns the Kingfisher, a boat that capsized and sank with 19 fishermen on board, killing 14 of the crewmen in the Indian Ocean last December.
    De brug levert veel werk op voor Zambiaanse arbeiders
    The Food and Allied Workers Union (FAWU) which is affiliated to COSATU said the owner of the Kingfisher exploits desperate immigrants, offering inadequate training and subjecting them to poor working conditions.

    “Instead of meeting workers demands, vessels’ owners are employing poorly trained workers and skippers thereby risking their lives,” said FAWU spokesperson Katishi Masemola. He also demanded that Radcliffe complied with “better working conditions” for migrant workers.

    The Kingfisher which is based in Port Elizabeth killed 10 Zimbabweans and four South Africans when it submerged in bad weather. Whilst the trawler’s captain, a South African, escaped death using the boat’s only life-raft, four Zimbabweans also managed to swim to the shore and survived.

    The four Zimbabwean survivors are Clemence Muduva (23), Silas Charwarira (20), Joseph Ganga (32) and Gift Nyamutenha (27).

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