FOLLOWING recent posts on social media alleging incidents of human trafficking, the National Police Commissioner, General Khehla Sitole, has appealed to anyone with information on these crimes to contact the South African Police Service (SAPS).

In light of the social media posts, Sitole highlighted the seriousness with which human trafficking and other closely related crimes are dealt with by SAPS and specialised units such as the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) and the Family Violence Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit (FCS).

“We are appealing to anyone who may have information on these crime categories, preferably before they are committed, to contact the SAPS on our Crime Stop number 086 00 10111. Information may also be communicated via the MySAPS App, an application which can be downloaded on any iPhone or Android. All information will be treated with strictest confidence and callers may remain anonymous,” he said.

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Just last week a video surfaced on social media of an incident that occurred on 10 September 2020 of a man who tried to grab a four-year-old girl while under the watchful eye of her mother at a pizza shop in Florida, Johannesburg.

The SAPS said while the suspect was charged with assault and intent to cause grievous bodily harm, the incident was not a case of human trafficking but served as a stark reminder of the realities of these type of crimes.

He called for a collective approach to be adopted to ensure that not a single person, man, woman or child becomes a victim of this crime.  

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