WE ALSO CONDEMN THE LABOUR TRAFFICKING OF MEN FOR CHEAP LABOUR
The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) is worried by the revelations from a report by the U.S. State Department, that an alarming number of disadvantaged women from Lesotho are being trafficked into South Africa for sex work. The report states that “traffickers exploit Basotho women in sex trafficking and domestic servitude, while men are subjected to labour trafficking, particularly in the mining and textile sectors in South Africa.”
The exploitation of vulnerable working-class women is unchecked, leaving them trapped in trafficking rings, clinging to the hope of a better life. The vulnerability is exacerbated by the deteriorating socio-economic conditions in both Lesotho and South Africa, in which the search for jobs and income made people desperately search for jobs. This harsh reality makes it easier for traffickers to prey on their vulnerability. So, most of the women are lured from their homes with the promise of jobs in South Africa, only to be sentenced to servitude in brothels by their traffickers.
Whilst women are trafficked for sexual exploitation, men and some women are trafficked for super-exploitation. To provide cheap labour in mining (most probably the artisanal/ZamaZama mining sector) and clothing factories. This impunity of labour trafficking in the clothing factories continues with the negligence of the Dept of Employment Labour, which fails to provide an adequate inspection.
The report indicates that it is alleged that government officials on both sides, Lesotho and South Africa, are linked to the brothels, hence these brothels are allowed to “operate with impunity.” SAFTU calls on border control authorities with whose help the trafficking is facilitated and law enforcement agencies who allow such brothels to operate to be held accountable for their role in this tragic situation. It is alarming how hundreds of women are abducted and brought into the country undetected, with little to no oversight or suspicion that could trigger investigations. These failures allow money-hungry criminals to strip these women of their lives and dignity without facing justice.
SAFTU is committed to championing the betterment of working-class women’s lives, just as we are committed to fighting for the betterment of the class as a whole. This report came at an opportune time, when the nation is celebrating Women’s Month, to shine a spotlight on the plight of women in Southern Africa.
It is important to note that trafficking for sex and other types of low-standard jobs is a widespread problem across Southern Africa, particularly of women trafficked from Zimbabwe, Malawi and Lesotho. A few months ago, a Carte Blanche episode (an investigative journalist show that airs on M-Net) exposed this trafficking of women and even men from Malawi into South Africa, where trafficking syndicates are even organised under the cloak of stokvels.
The SADC meetings which took place from the 28th of July, and ended with the heads of State meeting on the 17th of August, should have tackled this issue and unveiled plans on how to apprehend the syndicates and put a stop to the traffickers. Our call for solutions through law enforcement to stop the trafficking, is, however, not ignorant to the fact that lack of jobs and poverty in Southern Africa is what create conditions for human trafficking for work and sex servitude. In other words, the ultimate solution to human trafficking has to be the eradication of poverty so that working-class people, and working-class women in particular will not be vulnerable to the job scams that turn into the nightmare of sex trafficking.
In the meantime, we urge the government to apprehend the syndicates, free the women, and deliver justice for them. It must also prevent further exploitation by strengthening border control and imposing harsher sentences on convicted traffickers.
