SA is human trafficking hotspot

2007-10-18 13:09

Johannesburg - South Africa is being used as a destination and transit point as well as a source of human trafficking, the International Association of Women Judges was told at a conference in Boksburg on Thursday.

Said public prosecutions director, advocate Thoko Majokweni, who was speaking on behalf of Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla: "Malawian women are sold by Nigerian syndicates... to Germany, Italy and Belgium, and this all happens via South Africa.

"South Africans themselves are being trafficked to Hong Kong and Macau (in China). Thai women are debt bonded in Brussels, in Johannesburg, and KwaZulu Natal, especially in port areas."

Majokweni said Chinese traffickers were using Johannesburg as a transit point for Swaziland, Lesotho and Mozambique. Russian and Bulgarian women were exploited in private business clubs.

Various legislative reforms were underway in South Africa to stem the tide of trafficking, she said.

South Africans should remember human trafficking was new in terms of recognition but not in terms of existence.

"You look and see the life of Sarah Baartman who was sold into slavery in France, paraded naked for men to pleasure themselves, and even in death didn't get any dignity because she was torn into little parts. Even her private parts were exhibited in a museum in France," Majokweni said.

- SAPA