Protest set to highlight trafficking
Bid to raise awareness about scourge
LESS than a week ago, human trafficking survivor Chrizelda Grootboom pleaded with the world to help victims reclaim their dignity – yesterday‚ in the Western Cape where she grew up‚ local authorities announced they would be leading a silent protest to raise awareness about the scourge.
Grootboom‚ invited to address a high-level meeting on human trafficking at the United Nations in New York‚ told of how she grew up in poverty in Khayelitsha on the Cape Flats. She was desperate for a new life and when her friend presented her with an opportunity to leave – she took it.
She ended up in Johannesburg where she was locked up‚ drugged‚ beaten and repeatedly raped. She was forced to work as a sex slave for about 10 years.
Grootboom told UN delegates that between the ages of 18 and 26 she moved between brothels and strip clubs after she was kicked out of the house in Johannesburg where she was in sexual servitude.
She found herself at a Port Elizabeth brothel during the 2010 Soccer World Cup.
She fell pregnant but was forced to have an abortion and found herself back at work three hours later. Eventually she got back to Cape Town.
Free now‚ she said “the boils‚ the HIV‚ the headaches are a reminder every day that I was a sex slave.”
According to a statement by Social Development MEC Albert Fritz‚ reliable statistics on human trafficking are difficult to find.
But a study – Trafficking in Persons in the SADC Region: Baseline Report: 2016 – found poverty and unemployment were primary factors fuelling the industry.
“Nationally‚ the social development department dealt with 220 cases of human trafficking in 2016.
“As a province‚ we have also dealt with cases of trafficking‚ including a case last year of five young boys from KwaZulu-Natal‚ who had been recruited and deceived into travelling to Cape Town under the impression of having secured places at a top soccer club’s training academy,” he said.
“More recently‚ in August this year‚ the department intervened in a case of a 22year-old woman from Gauteng who was trafficked to Cape Town for the purposes of sexual exploitation.”
Department officials will start their silent protest in St Georges Mall in Cape Town on Wednesday. This is to coincide with Human Trafficking Awareness Week‚ from yesterday to Friday.
“South Africa continues to be a source‚ transit and destination country for victims of trafficking.
“Criminal traffickers are increasingly becoming organised crime syndicates‚ and use deceptive means to potentially abduct and traffic adults and children,” Fritz said.
The boils‚ the HIV‚ the headaches are a reminder every day