The Hawks‚ the Department of Social Development‚ The City of Tshwane and the South African Police Service joined a march against human trafficking in Sunnyside‚ Pretoria on Thursday.

Speaking during the Anti-Human Trafficking Campaign‚ Major General Liziwe Ntshinga of the Hawks‚ issued a stern warning that when law enforcement hit the streets to advocate against human trafficking‚ perpetrators were “busy planning their next modus operandi’.

“Traffickers are everywhere; some might even be among us here to spy on our operational plan‚ so let us be vigilant.

“The social media has rapidly become a fishing-dam for traffickers so make use of these social platforms responsibly and carefully.

“One other form of human trafficking that gets into my nerves is the so-called ukuthwala‚ especially in the Eastern Cape Province. Ukuthwala is human trafficking‚ it is a crime and it must be brought to a stop”‚ Ntshinga said.

Ukuthwala is the practice of abducting young girls and forcing them into marriage‚ often with the consent of their parents.

During her address the deputy director of the victim empowerment programme at the Department of Social Development‚ Myrtle Morris challenged all stakeholders to intensify their programmes aimed at preventing human trafficking.

She said although the social department had five accredited shelter for victims of gender-based violence and human trafficking‚ a lot still needed to be done to cater for the victims.

“We are the only province with the shelter for male victims of human trafficking and related crimes‚ but the influx of victims of Asian origin has prompted the department to provide additional funding to meet their unique diet‚ clothing and medical care”‚ said Morris.

Speaking on behalf of the acting head of the Hawks‚ the head of serious corruption investigation‚ Major General Zinhle Mnonopi said human trafficking had been on a downward slope from the 2013/2014 financial year but was quick to reiterate the Hawks’ stance on this criminal act.

“Recently the police rescued four Thai women from a brothel in Brooklyn and arrested two Chinese nationals for the crime.

“This shows that we mean business and no stone will be left unturned in our quest to free all human trafficking victims and all corrupt officials within our ranks and in other sister departments will not be spared as we up our game to rid our country of corruption and all sorts of social ills by government employees”‚ Mnonopi said.