Suspected drug dealers and prostitutes were again kicked out of a building, allegedly used as a crime hub, by the Guard of Call security in Arcadia last Saturday.
Nigerian nationals who are allegedly drug dealers and prostitute handlers hijacked the Ronde Geluk building a few years ago.
This was not the first time suspected drug dealers and prostitutes were given orders to move out of a hijacked building in Arcadia. Following a large public outcry, they were previously moved out of buildings such as Eloffskaya and Bryan’s Court.
The Ronde Geluk building was a guest house before it was transformed into rental flats.
Rekord discovered that Nigerian nationals made use of South African women to hijack the building and transform it into a den of drugs and prostitution. According to a reliable source, who did not want his name mentioned for security reasons, a number of South African women applied for accommodation in the building with valid South African IDs other necessary documents such as payslips.
The owners of the building provided these women with accommodation without knowing that they were being used as a front for the Nigerians. “Each of these women stayed in their flats for about three to five days before disappearing. After they left, Nigerian men came to stay in the flat, claiming to be looking after it. The women never came back and the Nigerians continued to pay the rent,” the source said.
Rekord also discovered that each Nigerian living in the building ‘owned’ a certain number of prostitutes who handed over their earnings to these men in exchange for drugs, accommodation and food.
The deal is a bad one, as the prostitutes are seemingly always in arrears with their payments, something they themselves cannot figure out since they are given no payslips or statements of debt.
Failure to hand over their money results in severe beatings and other forms of assault. These women are not only bound the Nigerians in terms of their cash payments, they are also forced to submit to sex with the Nigerians any time one of them feels the urge to engage in sex.
Many times, these handlers chase ‘their’ prostitutes away, referring to them as women of no value when they have become sick for various reasons.
At such time, new, young women from all over the country are recruited based on the promise of a decent job. These women’s transport in luxury buses is paid for so that they can come to Pretoria and be used as sex slaves.
It is alleged that the Nigerians do not recruit women from their own country, rather, they exploit women from South Africa and bordering countries like Lesotho and Mozambique.
The evacuation process was done without the use of force. The tenants were issued with notices to evacuate the building three months prior to the date of evacuation. It was not clear at this stage where the evacuated people moved to.
