MBOMBELA – South Africa has only convicted three traffickers during 2013 and only 12 suspects are being prosecuted for alleged sex trafficking violations. This was revealed in the annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report which judges globally how countries are addressing the problem. The report was released on June 20 by the US State Department.
It stated that in 2012, only one trafficker was convicted in South Africa. Prosecution of seven cases was initiated, and ongoing prosecutions of five offenders from the previous reporting period continued. According to news reports, the Grahamstown High Court sentenced a convicted sex trafficker to 10 years’ imprisonment for procuring an 11-year-old girl for an Eastern Cape man in April 2012.
In February 2013, the Sabie Magistrate’s Court initiated the prosecution of two offenders, a Ms Violet Chauke and businessman Mr Lloyd Mabuza, who were charged with the sex trafficking of five Mozambican girls. The trial is continuing this week in the Graskop Magistrate’s Court.
The March 2010 Thai sex trafficking convictions were overturned on appeal because the court translator, who was fearful for her safety, had covered her face during the proceedings.
Five defendants awaited prosecution and several other trials remained ongoing from previous reporting periods. An ongoing prosecution of three defendants for sex trafficking, drug, and prostitution offences following a raid on a brothel by the Durban provincial anti-trafficking task team, was supplemented through the arrest of the property owner and his wife in March 2012; both were released awaiting trial.
The government failed to prosecute any officials allegedly complicit in trafficking-related crimes, including immigration, border, and police officers who may work in collusion with traffickers or be among the “clients” of sex trafficking victims. In addition, government did not yet initiate prosecution of two police officers arrested in the Western Cape and one additional suspect arrested in Nelspoort in October 2011 for the alleged sex trafficking of South African girls.
The report states in its efforts against sex trafficking, the government has prosecuted low-level cases with one to three victims, typically from South Africa or neighbouring countries, but has not successfully prosecuted larger, international syndicates involving Nigerian, Russian, Bulgarian, Chinese, and Thai traffickers who dominate the sex trade in several local cities.
Well-known brothels, including some that have previously used sex-trafficking victims, continued to operate without police intervention. No cases against traffickers of Thai women have been initiated since 2007. In addition, many stakeholders report the failure of police to proactively identify sex trafficking victims or pursue investigations of some cases; police regularly evacuated alleged victims of sex trafficking without opening investigations against the perpetrators. There was also one report of police taking a whole week to respond to a distress call from a victim.
