Two men were arrested for human trafficking after 26 Ethiopian men allegedly held against their will for four months on a property in Northmead, Benoni in the early hours of Wednesday. The arrests were made after some of the men managed to escape and alert authorities of what was going on.

Benoni SAPS spokesperson Nomsa Sekele says they responded to a tip-off about the Ethiopians being held in a guest house.

“After monitoring the guest house, we found 26 Ethiopians held in the house. We also found a Malawian national, who was acting as their guard,” says Sekele.

According to Sekele, the men were locked up in the house for about four months after being lured into the country by a fellow Ethiopian national, with the promise of jobs.

“We managed to trace and arrest the ‘kingpin’ recruiting these people. He (34), along with the guard (28) at the house, will face charges of human trafficking,” she says.

They will appear in the Benoni Magistrate’s Court today.

She says none of the men found in the house were forcibly brought to South Africa and they will face charges of being in the country illegally.

Neighbours give food to ‘starving’ men after rescue

When the Benoni City Times visited the area yesterday, it was quiet and calm, with no evidence of the drama that unfolded during the night.

On the property, journalists found two windows smashed and burglar bars broken. Some of the burglar bars on the windows were reinforced with steel bars. The garage door was also broken.

Through a window it could be seen that the living area had no furniture, containing a single mattress.

In the kitchen there was a bag of rice on the floor, several dirty pots on the stove and chopped onions on the table.

In an outside storage room, journalists spotted steel bars and refuse bags filled with rotting garbage and more onions on the floor.

A neighbour, who spoke to the newspaper anonymously, said at around midnight on Tuesday, she and her husband woke up to sounds of shattering glass on the property next door.

“My husband and I were asleep. When we heard the glass shatter, we got a big fright. When he opened the curtain, he saw four people jump into our yard.

“They jumped over our gate into the street and ran away.”

She said they thought it was a robbery, so they phoned the local security company, Super Cops, who found nothing after inspecting the property.

However, as she and her husband walked back into their house, they heard a commotion again.

They saw a scuffle and another man came out and ran away but was caught on one of the streets.

She said when the police arrived, they got into the house and found people kept on the property, apparently, against their will.

“We gave them food because they were starving. It was shocking because I was here the whole time. I heard and saw nothing suspicious,” she said.

In a statement, Super Cops corroborated the neighbour’s account.

“We responded to the scene. Upon arrival, two males came out and informed us there were more people detained in the house against their will and had been for four months.

“The victims managed to escape by breaking the burglar bar and the window inside the room where they were held.”