Drug-fuelled sex trade uncovered in Umhlatuzana police raid

A POLICE raid on an illegal brothel in Umhlatuzana has uncovered a network of prostitution houses targeting young women in South Durban's neighbourhoods.

Community leaders warned that the brothels and drug operations were becoming a serious problem in the Bayview policing area, with wealthy married men as the primary clients.

A 27-year-old man was arrested last month after police raided a suspected brothel called "The House" in 27th Avenue, following community complaints.

Four young women from Chatsworth and Bluff, alleged to be sex workers, were found in the three bedroom house. Police sources said two young Indian married men were also in “The House”.

It has been alleged that Mluleki Mqondisi Maphumulo operated the suspected brothel.

He has been arrested and charged for being in possession of drugs. 

He was nabbed with R4 800 worth of drugs, including rock cocaine, cocaine, crystal meth and cash suspected to be proceeds from crime. 

He appeared in the Chatsworth Magistrate’s Court and was released on R1 000 bail. 

He is due to reappear in court next month.

A source close to the investigation alleged an Indian man from the community was behind the operations of the “The House” and that Maphumulo was allegedly hired by him.

It has been alleged that the suspected brothel catered to walk-in clients and offered online services.

The source said the walk-in clients included “older, rich married men” from Umhlatuzana and surrounding areas.

“The man who was arrested was caught with drugs that were being sold to the clients and to the girls they had employed as sex workers. They do not keep a large amount of drugs in the house at once. They usually keep a day’s supply only.

“There were four girls in the house, aged between 25 to 35. They are from Bluff and Chatsworth. Two married men in their late 30’s - believed to be clients - were in the house at the time. But we could not charge them because they were not caught ‘in the act’ and we could not prove prostitution,” said the source.

“We received information that the girls were solicited through an online escort agency app,” the source claimed.

The source described the house as modest with little or no furniture.

“The house only had one sofa, and three partitioned bedrooms. The alleged sex workers said they worked for the owner of ‘The House’, and that they took 50% of their earnings. They said they lived and worked there at their own free will.”

The source said investigations were underway to arrest the owner and shut down the operations.

He said this was just one of the brothels on their list of illegal prostitution operations in Umhlatuzana and Silvergen which they were gathering information on.

He said drugs were the contributing factor that kept the girls working there as it fed their addiction. 

“The brothel owners are exploiting these girls and using their addictions to keep them trapped in this vicious cycle. We were able to get a search warrant and conduct the raid due to the information we received from residents living in the area. We urge people to contact the police and give them information so that we are able to shut down places that contribute to the drug problems faced in communities," the source said.

Rocky Naidoo, chairperson for the Bayview Community Policing Forum (CPF) said Umhlatuzana and Silverglen were the hotspot areas for prostitution houses.

“People are operating businesses as bed and breakfasts, but they are running brothels. They sell drugs and conduct illicit activities in the quieter areas, hoping to go undetected.

“Umhlatuzana is the La Lucia of Chatsworth. The civic association had put a lot of effort into ensuring that the area is well maintained and pristine, most times at their own costs. 

“Police were able to do a raid in that area and are making strides in shutting these places down because residents were aware and made the necessary complaints..

“Brothels are a massive problem in the Bayview policing area. We need to ensure all sectors get involved to put an end to these types of businesses operating in our neighbourhoods.

“Young girls are solicited and there are also foreign women working in these houses. We found that there was one operating in Umhlatuzana and five in Silverglen,” he added.

Naidoo said in addition to prostitution, there were drug operations which needed to be stopped. 

“The main clients are wealthy, married men. They take drugs and pay mostly drug addicted women for sex. The community can stop this by being vigilant and informing the authorities. They can look out for activities that are not normal, such as the different cars at the house each day, or unusual entry and exit activity every few hours. 

“We cannot allow Bayview to deteriorate into an illicit zone or red light district. All residents and role-players must play a part in ensuring we eradicate this from our community,” Naidoo added.

Vish Mudaly, chairperson of the Silverglen Community Policing Forum (CPF), said they were actively involved in ensuring that sex workers were “peacefully driven” out of the area, and had kept a close eye on the alleged brothels.

He said Silverglen was once a hotspot for sex workers who stood on the pavements and street corners soliciting men, and “extreme measures” had been taken to rid the area of the “age-old trade” of prostitution.

“The area had become known for this, and two years ago after we took over as the CPF, we had things under control with regular street patrols.

“We have only received complaints about one brothel operating in Silverglen. We have no complaints about the four others. Residents claim that there were cars frequenting at all hours of the night and day, and had notified us about it. Another one we knew about closed down shortly after I became involved in the CPF.

“The problem is that they seem to know when we are patrolling. We cannot find evidence to prove they are operating a brothel. If they are operating, they are very discreet about it,” he added.

Mudaly said they curbed prostitution on the streets by approaching the women and girls, asking them to refrain from operating in the community.

“The girls know us, and our vehicles. We had many engagements with them and told them that what they were doing was not allowed in the community. They were understanding and grateful that we chose to talk to them instead of assaulting them, which they claimed people in other areas did to get rid of them.

 “We had then decided on a secondary approach and stopped the men in vehicles approaching the women. We stopped an elderly man in his vehicle, waiting for a girl who was walking towards him.

“We approached him and asked him what he was doing. He said he was from Savannah Park and was in the area visiting his daughter.

“He said he thought he knew the woman and stopped. We told him that we would take him home and tell his family about his behaviour if we found him trying to pick up girls from the area again.

“Another man, in his 40s, was caught with a girl. We asked him for his address and told him that we were going to tell his family  about what he was doing, and he broke into tears.

“He cried snot and tears like a child when we took a photo of him and his licence disc. We told him that he was on our database, and we would notify his family if he was caught again.

“This is the only way to curb this. There are two registered guesthouses in Silverglen which operate within the ambit of their licence. We noticed that the girls now stand on Rank Avenue in Westcliff, which is one road away from Silverglen Drive. 

“When we approached them, they claimed they were on their way home to Bayview. We are starting a street captain project. We hope that residents would confide in their street  captains and give them information about brothels so that we can set up operations with the police and get rid of them from our community,” Mudaly added.

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