Is human trafficking fast becoming the biggest threat to vulnerable communities? A Cape Town based organisation advocating against human trafficking believes this is the case and describes it as a pandemic.
The organisation called S-Cape aims to create a safe space, restore the dignity and nurture hope for women survivors and their children.
The non-profit organisation (NPO) describes human trafficking as a crime that exploits people for profit involving the use of force, fraud or coercion to control and exploit victims in various forms, including forced labour, sexual exploitation or domestic servitude.
Traffickers target vulnerable individuals, often lured by false promises of jobs or better lives, only to be subjected to physical and psychological abuse.
According to the United Nations (UN), traffickers often use violence or fraudulent employment agencies and fake promises of education and job opportunities to trick and attract their victims.
The recent three life-imprisonment sentences of people accused of trafficking and kidnapping six-year-old Joshlin Smith has put the spotlight on human trafficking. World Day Against Trafficking in Persons is observed annually in July.
Babalwa Sindapi, a social worker at S-Cape, said sexual exploitation is one of the most common forms they encounter. “The traffickers exploit the survivors mostly through deception or they can use the lover-boy method. Those are their common tactics they use to manipulate the survivors.”
She warned social media had become a hub for perpetrators.
“They are now targeting people on social media and start grooming them before they act. Once they see that the community is becoming aware of human trafficking they change cities. For example, most of our clients were from Johannesburg, but now we are receiving people who are from KwaZulu-Natal.”
Sindapi pointed out that there are still too many misconceptions of this crime.
“People often say ‘they were already prostituting so that does not make them victims’ or human trafficking takes place abroad.”
According to Sindapi, the organisation provides therapeutic sessions, groups, horse therapy, aquatherapy, and art therapy.
“We also schedule daily devotions as we are a faith-based organisation. We used to make use of outpatient rehabilitation, which we recently stopped because we now have a psychiatric sister in our team.”
Sindapi said S-Cape partnered with different organisations that provide skills-development training to the survivors.
“We also make use of a psychologist when they arrive in our safe house. We attend to their medical conditions, provide skills training so that they can look for jobs when they go back into their communities.”
The social worker said the recovery journey for victims is often challenging.
“They have trust issues, cravings as they were forced to use drugs, low self-motivation based on the treatment they received from their traffickers. All of them start to switch addiction from substances to unhealthy snack or binge eating.”
She said there are various gaps in the system that make their work more challenging, particularly when putting survivors at risk.
“Unfortunately, the police are not fully involved in the work we do. We had survivors who complained of being returned to the traffickers. They are accused of being on the traffickers’ pay roll. Other stakeholders are also not involved as they should be. There is an immense gap unfortunately and once they come to our safe house it seems like they become our responsibility only.”
Sindapi said the justice system is also failing survivors.
“The justice system is also not playing its role because it seems to focus mainly on its own cases and convinces survivors to open cases.
“When they want to leave the safe house the system does not provide any housing for them as they await the trial.”
She said not all survivors are South African citizens.
Sindapi believes more awareness should be spread on social-media platforms.
“All the social-media platforms should perhaps normalise having these conversations so that people can be informed. We believe that knowledge is power and to also be informed about hot spots.”
She cautioned people who are searching for jobs to be vigilant.
“Vulnerable individuals are their target. When people are applying for jobs they must do their background checks of the company advertising. They must rather have someone who can accompany them when they go for interviews so that they can act faster when they suspect something.”
