Trafficking law doubts

An anti-human trafficking law has been a decade in the making but concerns have been raised about whether those responsible for enforcing it are ready to do so.

With the signing into law of the Prevention and Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act by President Jacob Zuma this week, for the first time South Africa has a dedicated act deal with the scourge of human trafficking.

The act does so by providing for the prosecution, conviction and sentencing of those involved in this crime. It also creates measures to assist victims who have been trafficked.

The enforcement of the new law will require various authorities to work together. These include the Justice Department, the Department of Social Development and the SAPS.

But experts have questioned whether they are able to deal appropriately with victims of human trafficking.

“There is an inability by the police to understand the complexities of human trafficking and the psychological trauma experienced by the victim in reporting such a crime,” saidJohannesburg attorneyMichal Johnson.

Advocate Beatri Kruger, from the department of criminal and medical law at the University of the Free State, agreed that victim protection was critical.

She added that training was one of the main challenges authorities responsible for implementing the act would face.

“Previous training has been done with the police, prosecution and the judiciary, but much more is needed. The police and prosecution do not have many experts who know about the dynamics and modus operandi of trafficking,” Kruger said.

Spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority, Bulelwa Makeke, said that a task team had been appointed to oversee quality assurance and the smooth implementation of the act.

It would start training prosecutors in all provinces at the end of this month, she said.

These included targeting 325 prosecutors “whose primary function is to prosecute cases of a complex nature, including trafficking in persons,” Makeke added.

Another concern was the readiness of accredited facilities to care for trafficking victims.

“We are battling with resources. What the act requires in terms of systems and support for victims will be a challenge,” said Kruger.

For example, she said that, in instances of sex trafficking, victims were often coerced into taking drugs and needed appropriate rehabilitation.

“It is difficult to place victims in existing rehabilitation centres, as trauma may affect mental and physical behaviour. You need a multidisciplinary team to be informed on what can be expected,” Kruger said.

Despite the anticipated hiccoughs, many have welcomed the act as a step in the right direction.

Matipa Mwamuka, counter-trafficking project coordinator at Activists Networking against the Exploitation of Children (ANEX), told The Times/The Sowetan yesterday that the new law was “great”, but “the work begins now.”