Malawians arrested for abandoning farm work in Israel
Forty-five Malawian workers have been arrested for leaving their workstations on farms to work in the city.
According to MW Nation, the Malawian citizens were arrested at a confectionery factory in Tel Aviv by Israeli immigration officers on April 2.
The detention came upon a tipoff of their residence on a compound in the city. President of the Malawi Society in Israel, Austin Chipeta told The Malawian Nation that the group that fled Arava and Lion farms is being kept at a maximum-security prison in South Tel Aviv, near Shapira neighbourhood.
Before this, Israel and Malawi had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to guide the labour export to Israeli farms.
But Chipeta explains that many persons run away from the farms to seek greener pastures because contractual obligations are not respected.
“For example, if they agreed to 30 shekels [K14 000] per hour, some farmers would have been paying 25 or 20 shekels.
“Salaries in the farms are much lower. Other jobs, for example, in the manufacturing industry where they run to are paying around 40 shekels [K19 000] per hour. As a leader, I took it upon myself to talk to them [workers] to return to the farms but they would not listen,” Chipeta was quoted by MW Nation.
According to Kenya-based Israel Ambassador to Malawi Michael Lotem the MoU was an interim arrangement to allow a limited number of Malawian workers to work in Israel until a bilateral labour agreement is signed. He said Malawi will only have less than 3 000 slots for farm workers.
The detained Malawian citizens face deportation from the Middle Eastern country.
