Cape Town - Poverty, homelessness, and gangsterism are contributing factors of human trafficking.
This week, Women’s Circle in Delft, who were trained by the organisation Free 2 Fly, which focuses on human trafficking, shared their knowledge with the youth and the community in a workshop.
Susan Jantjies, who arranged the workshop at the Delft Civic Centre, encouraged participants to do their own research, to visit their website, and to know the signs of human trafficking.
Jantjies said poverty was a thriving contributor for human trafficking, especially in communities like Delft, where people lived from hand to mouth.
“For many years, we belonged to the Child Rapid Response Unit with the police,” she said. “Since those years, we have been doing the searches for missing persons, some found dead or alive.
“I became involved with Pink Ladies and later Track n Trace missing persons organisations. I was approached by the organisation called Free 2 Fly.
“On May 11, we had our first workshop educating our people about human trafficking, and this week, we took what we learnt back to our communities, and youth especially.
“I never realised how deep it was, that human trafficking can actually start inside your home.
“Before 1994, we always heard about these young girls disappearing and working on farms. Some of these girls opened up about what happened.
“When we grew up, there was a narrative not to speak out of the home.
“But many were, actual fact, human trafficked from out of their homes, be it for work, etc.
“This is awareness for our youth because social media is dangerous, and it can lure our young people.”
During a podcast shared by Free 2 Fly last month with journalist and missionary Phinius Sebatsane, he said that gangsterism and homelessness are forms of human trafficking.
He said he had come to meet different homeless persons, some controlled by gangs or who would become their lookout and customers.
He said many homeless people were controlled by a so-called “pimp” and had to beg on the side of the streets.
“What I have seen, people call gangsterism, gangsterism. I call it human trafficking, because it is the same mindset,” he said.
“Sex, drugs and money; those are the things that run the streets.
“When you see a homeless person on the street, they are there sometimes for protection or drugs, in exchange to look into people’s houses or cars.
“When you are addicted, you can easily be exposed.
“What I have learnt from those living on the streets, it is not always by choice. There is a pimp that is keeping them there due to an addiction.
“I have a special case that I am dealing with right now; there is a young man who I have been dealing with for the past six months, and he has been in and out of prison.
“Who is literally on the streets? The gangsters have told him he is not allowed anywhere, and if they go somewhere, they will kill his family, so in order to protect his family, he has to be on the streets and be a guard.
“He is the look out.
“It is an exchange of drugs and protection.
“Some of the homeless people, I have taken them off the streets, and I have had to go to the gang to ask them to let them go. It’s a business, and the homeless are the customers.
“That is why I say it is a form of human trafficking.”
Reginald Maart of the Delft Community Policing Forum also attended the workshop and agreed with Jantjies that poverty was the main reason people were easily trafficked.
“Delft is a city on its own. If you look at the crime we have here, human trafficking is one of it, and poverty is a contributing factor,” he stated.
“We have the poorest of the poor here. Our youth are challenged and are vulnerable, and it drives human trafficking, and that is how they are lured out of the area to commit crimes in other communities.”
During the workshop, participants were asked questions such as whether they knew of the human trafficking hotline number or if they could name an incident where there was a victim of extortion.
Social worker Katlego Phiri, who is based in the Delft community, said they often dealt with cases of human trafficking at their offices.