46 women rescued in Joburg sex trafficking raid

19 June 2018 1:00 PM

46 women have been rescued in Johannesburg after police smashed a human trafficking syndicate.

Some of the women say that they have been locked up in a room since January. Most of them were abducted while making their way home from work at Johannesburg Park Station and surrounds.

SA's co-ordinator for Anti Human Trafficking at Salvation army, Major Margaret Stafford, says Park Station has been a hub were women and children get abducted. She says there's a lot of movement happening and these criminals take advantage of that.

Read: Athletes to run 375km in solidarity against human trafficking

Young people get lured to the CBD either to meet someone for a job interview and realise that it is human trafficking when they find themselves locked up in a room in Hillbrow.
— Major Margaret Stafford, SA's co-ordinator for Anti Human Trafficking at Salvation army

Stafford says although they do not have statistics, human trafficking has been happening for a long time but now it seems like people are becoming more aware of what is happening because of the awareness campaigns held.

She says they rescue women who are kept as sex slaves and some are being shipped to other countries but the users never get arrested.

She reiterates that it is time authorities look at the target market, the people who are buying the sex slaves.

We have to start looking at who is the buyer. Are they syndicates or are they private buyers? We really haven't got a handle on all of these things yet.
— Major Margaret Stafford, SA's co-ordinator for Anti Human Trafficking at Salvation army

To hear the rest of the conversation on human traffic, listen below:

Written by: Lengwadishang Ramphele