Police save more from slave trade

The Gauteng social development department has reported a spike in the number of human-trafficking victims rescued this year, mostly from Thailand.

This was announced at a media briefing yesterday as part of "social development month".

So far this year, the department has rescued 110 victims - 69 women and 41 children.

In 2015, it saved 89 female trafficking victims in partnership with security cluster departments.

Social development MEC Nandi Mayathula-Khoza said official numbers did not reflect the full extent of human trafficking.

"Human trafficking is a very big challenge.

"In South Africa, the numbers of reported victims of human trafficking remain low despite media coverage and training on human trafficking.

"We need more of these cases to be reported, and when they are reported we want arrests and convictions," said the MEC.

Stop Human Trafficking CEO Karen Nel said women and children were the main targets of traffickers.

"They traffic people for different reasons." These reasons included labour, prostitution, pornography and exploitation of body organs.

"Police need more training. Sometimes they can't distinguish between a human-trafficking victim and an illegal migrant," Nel said. Most victims were from Thailand and countries elsewhere in Africa.

Social development deputy director-general for social welfare services Onkemetsi Kabasia said most human-trafficking victims became prostitutes.

The department had just repatriated 23 children who had been trafficked from Ghana, said Kabasia.

"A group of children was brought into the country under the pretence that they were coming for a sports-development programme.

"Their ages were between six and 16. The person that brought them disappeared because he got to know that the authorities were after him," Kabasia said.

In July, the Hawks rescued 16 girls from a human-trafficking ring in Kempton Park, which had used the girls as sex slaves.

Also in July, police intercepted a truck carrying 57 trafficked Malawian girls and boys aged 11 to 21 near Rustenburg.

A driver and two passengers were arrested for human trafficking.

The national emergency helpline is 0800 222 777.