Would-be students and jobseekers in Gauteng could be targets for human traffickers.

The Hawks flagged the province as a trafficking hotspot, with its status as an economic hub making job seekers a soft target according to one expert.

Provincial Hawks boss, Maj-Gen Ebrahim Kadwa, said they had picked up a pattern where victims are lured from rural areas to the economic hub by criminals pretending to offer various job opportunities, including at modelling agencies. 

“Depending on the demand, the criminals would create the right type of advert to attract prey. Just like any business, they also have an operational plan including how they will disguise the crime. It’s an organised crime and a lot of thinking and planning goes into it,” said Kadwa.

He said other provinces such as KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape had seen similar scams with people from rural areas being lured with fake opportunities. 

“We have also found a number of cases in townships as well in the greater Johannesburg region and neighbouring provinces where people were lured, held against their will and forced into labour or sex work.

“But we have also found that anyone can be a victim.”

He said human trafficking syndicates understood and exploited human needs to manipulate people into believing they would finally be able to live their dream. 

Research expert from the University of Free State, Beatri Kruger said victims could be men, women or children of any age and ethnicity. 

“Human trafficking does not discriminate. It all depends on what the client wants. Understanding the diversity of potential victims is crucial in understanding the trafficking phenomenon. The victims are taken to locations where their services can best be exploited,” said Kruger. 

“It [Gauteng] houses a multitude of criminal networks and kingpins [hence it is a hotspot]. The recent case of S v Gerhard Ackerman has cast a spotlight on the exploitation of minor boys within a network of male clients. Various Gauteng suburbs, including Johannesburg, Pretoria, Heidelberg, Benoni, and Springs, are recognised as trafficking hotspots, a reality substantiated in court proceedings.

“Albeit a criminal business. Just like a customer order whatever he likes from a menu in a restaurant, clients demand specific exploitive services and traffickers provide such services by recruiting the required unsuspected victims,” said Kruger. 

Kadwa said human traffickers hid behind night clubs, massage parlours and accommodation facilities such as hotels and B&Bs. 

“But we are making strides, and you would have seen the rescues and arrests we have made in past months. We have a dedicated team of trained officers dealing specifically with human trafficking.” 

Katie Modrau the SA country manager for A21, an antihuman trafficking organisation, said human trafficking thrived on corruption.

“You have corrupt authorities looking away, not clamping down on these rings. For human trafficking to survive, you need supply, and we have that in the African countries and within our borders. You need people who are desperate, unaware and need an answer to a situation or money – people who are willing to believe those who present opportunities that seem too good to be true.

“When you have all these factors: the corruption, the lack of resources in policing, the desperation, poverty, the lack of education and the [low] GDP of the country; you literally have the perfect recipe for human trafficking,” said Modrau. 

Modrau said the victims were often migrants rather than South African citizens. 

“You have people being trafficked from Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Lesotho that are brought to Gauteng and distributed across the country and it always depends on the individuals trafficked and which trafficking you are looking at.

“In sex trafficking, the victims are usually aged 16 and up, not counting the children and the transgender community who are also highly vulnerable. When looking at labour trafficking, you are then looking at migrants, from Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Pakistan and many more. They would often go to work on farms, sweatshops and phone stores,” said Modrau.