Socio-economic challenges in countries such as Mozambique and Zimbabwe are contributing to the trafficking of children into slave labour and the sex trade.
This is according to Emma van der Walt, founder and CEO of counter-human trafficking organisation Brave to Love, who said conflict displacement, particularly in the north of Mozambique, has resulted in a noticeable increase in the exploitation of young people.
She was speaking after the recent arrest by South African police of a Mozambican woman for allegedly smuggling boys aged 14 and 17 from there into South Africa. She is alleged to have beaten them and forced them to work for her at a vegetable stall in Dobsonville, Soweto.
“In the context of South Africa, it is important to understand that there is a demand for cheap labour and we have a very large informal economy with street vending where these children can be hidden,” said Van der Walt.
She defines human trafficking as the recruitment and transportation of people, accompanied by the intent to exploit them.
“It is trafficking someone for purposes of financial gain.
“Poverty plays a role in Mozambique, and then we can look at other factors. There are child labour vulnerabilities and there are recruiters.
“We have seen it with the mining industry, in a recent case Mozambican boys were trafficked with the zama zamas into illegal mining in the North West.”
According to Van der Walt, many young boys who are trafficked into South Africa indicate they fall into the trap of illegal activities because they see their peers boasting about being able to buy expensive shoes. They envy them and think that if they come to South Africa, they too will find employment.
These children are difficult to register at schools and are left vulnerable and exploited for labour services. We have also seen children who are trafficked to criminality on our streets in South Africa. These children actually become drug mules
— Emma van der Walt, Brave to Love founder and CEO
Van der Walt said on the Cape Flats they have established cases of children from Mozambique and Zimbabwe who are not registered anywhere.
“These children are then difficult to register at schools and are left vulnerable and exploited for labour services. We have also seen children who are trafficked to criminality on our streets in South Africa. These children actually become drug mules.”
Babies and young children from Zimbabwe are trafficked to beg with women at intersections, she said. The mothers are paid a fee for this.
“That is a form of human trafficking. It is exploitation of the child, and those children are placed in danger and exploited on the streets. It is forced begging. The child cannot give consent.”
Through her organisation, she has learnt there is a worsening situation for the number of girls becoming vulnerable to being trafficked for their labour. She cited the example of a young Zimbabwean girl whose mother sent her by bus to join her father in Gauteng, where he is working. However, when intercepted, the driver was en route to Cape Town.
“There is strong evidence she was about to be trafficked,” without the knowledge of her parents, she said.
Working with law enforcement agencies, they have also found unattended minors smuggled into the country in trucks with containers.
There is also demand in the sex trade, she said.
Brave to Love has worked with a 21-year-old Mozambican woman who was struggling to find a job in her home town. She couldn't speak English, as she comes from a rural area, but was lured to South Africa by a compatriot.
“This female was buying a lot of land in the area. People thought she was promising this young girl and others a future, and that they could provide for their families. But when she travelled over the border, she was trafficked into the commercial sex trade, raped and monitored by security guards for 24 hours.
“Luckily she got away because one of the security guards forgot to close the door and she managed to escape.”
She said there is a need for collaboration with Mozambique, Ethiopia and other countries where her organisation has seen minors being smuggled and exploited.
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