Israel deportees to refund agents
It never rains, but pours for Malawians deported from Israel for alleged breach of contract as local employment agencies plan to take them to court to recover costs incurred, it has emerged.
Twelve Malawians have been deported from Israel over breach of visa terms after they left the farms where they were working, to get improved pay elsewhere, according to the Ministry of Information and Digitisation.
They were among 42 foreign workers arrested last week while working at a bakery in Tel Aviv.
The Workers for Arava Farmers, an agency whose clients are among the deportees, confirmed in an interview about considering legal action to secure the compensation.
The agency’s managing director Justice Kangulu said in a response to our questionnaire on Thursday: “They [the workers] entered into a contract which, among others, obliges them to pay back for some costs. They remain liable until they have paid back. That’s all we can say for now.”
He said under the terms of their contract those dispatched to Israel were supposed to repay funds used to pay for their visas and air tickets.
“We were supposed to deduct the repayments for a period of nine months. Thereafter, they would be free,” Kangulu said, but could not be drawn to disclose the sum of money due for repayment.
But a source familiar with the deals confided in The Nation that each was expected to repay $5 000 (around K8.5 million).
“So, some of those that have been deported didn’t pay anything. They changed contact numbers after leaving the farms,” the source said.
The deportees were part of an Israeli government bid hatched last year to counter agricultural workers shortages after October’s deadly attacks on Israel by Hamas.
The attack led Israel to stop issuing permits to Palestinians to work on its farms while 10 000 migrant farm workers, mostly Thai nationals.
Meanwhile, Lions Recruitment Agency managing director Chifundo Banda said the deportees would face legal action.
He said: “We are uncertain about the number of individuals associated with the Lions Recruitment Agency.
“It is probable that there will be legal implications with the bank due to the loans they have taken.”
Our efforts to secure names of the deportees from Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Information and Digitisation did not yield results.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Charles Nkhalamba referred the matter to Ministry of Information whose line minister Moses Kunkuyu had not responded by press time at 9pm.
Meanwhile, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), in an article published on Wednesday on its website, reported that they interviewed a Malawian worker in Israel who said that some of his compatriots working on other farms were receiving less than the minimum wage in Israel.
Only identified as Benzani, is quoted as having said: “The minimum wage in Israel is 32 shekels (K14 600) an hour, but some of us are being paid 18 (K8 200) to 20 (K9 125) shekels an hour.”
Since last year, hundreds of Malawians have travelled to the Middle East nation as part of a government labour export programme that aims at offering youths employment while ploughing into the country the scarce foreign exchange.
During a meeting in Jerusalem earlier this year, Israeli Minister of Economy Nir Barakt told a Malawi delegation that it needed to think about exporting 100 000 workers across sectors.
