Workers found locked in Durban factory
KZN Economic Development says they were appalled to find a group of 14 working and sleeping in the locked factory for a week in Glen Anil - north of Durban - this past weekend.
Spokesperson, Ndabezinhle Sibiya says workers, most of them women, had been forced to manufacture hundreds of masks to meet the high demand for the protective gear - in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Local government has described the inhumane conditions they had been subjected to.
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"You can't manufacture a product and sleep in the same place. That is totally unacceptable. The best descriptions under which these workers were subjected to is one word - degrading."
"Inspectors from the Department of Employment and Labour are conducting an investigation. There is a clear violation of the conditions of employment to subject workers to such dangerous and unhealthy conditions."
He says the Chinese factory owner was arrested and the facility shut down.
