Humantrafficking: AnevilAfricaneedstofight

SONENI Moyo (20) (not real name) was delighted when she got a response to an advert for a scholarship to study in Kuwait that was flighted in one of the reputable daily newspapers. She had been trying her luck with other scholarship programmes to no avail. The cut-off points were a little too high and the screening was a bit tight too for an average performer with nine A-level points.

Her other undoing was that her family did not belong in the poor bracket, neither did they belong to the fraternal elite league. They were middle class and did not live frugally. They could afford sending her to the many universities in the country, but like many other families they basked in the hope of her getting a scholarship.

And when she got the response everyone was jubilant. The thought of studying in the Asian country brought prospects of a blissful future to her.

The mere thought of it would pronounce a big smile on her face. Little did she know that she was throwing herself spiritedly into the open jaws of a human trafficking syndicate.

“The advert was not suspicious because it came out more than two times in one of the reputable national dailies. My application was very sincere and so looked the response too. Everything seemed to be following proper channels. And I was excited. It was a dream that I was waiting for and it was just unfolding into reality. That was quite unbelievable as it is every young person’s wish to be studying outside the country.

“Not that our local universities are not good but studying abroad just carries with it some air of prestige you know,” said Soneni as she narrates her ordeal.

She said they were asked to submit their original documents for processing. They also paid an arm and a leg for all the other requirements. For to her and many others it was an opportunity they could not afford to forgo.

“What was supposed to shock me was the number of females that was uncharacteristically more than those of males. I noticed that but it never crossed my mind to doubt the authenticity of the scholarship especially considering the way the process was being handled.”

The men and women were so sophisticated and they all looked professional. Every operation was executed with detailed discipline.

“No contingency was overlooked. Problems were expected and dealt with. Negligence simply did not exist. The guys looked far more divorced from the deceptive and fraudulent world.

As if their looks were not enough, Soneni added, they feigned being prayerful. “Each time we met them they would lead us with a prayer before anything else. The seemed incapable of frightening even a puppy out of the way.”

She said they were even more excited when they were transported by road to South Africa from where they took a flight to the Asian country.

It was when they got to Kuwait that all hell broke loose. Prospects of coming home with academic qualifications were shattered as they were told to look for work while their papers and placements were being sorted out.

She said some of the men who they had known to be saints here now wore facial expressions that could berate and intimidate. Those that complained were threatened with being reported to authorities as illegal immigrants.

“We had nothing on us. We had surrendered all our documentation and we were not even aware of the laws. We were just blank. Nothing on scholarships was arranged. We soon discovered we were to work as prostitutes while the men were to be used in drug dealings.

“We worked as commercial sex workers but we had no access to our earnings and we could not negotiate the working conditions. The traffickers did that for us. We had no linguistic skills to communicate our plight but most importantly we were not aware of where to go.”

She said it was a well oiled cartel that involved some corrupt Government employees too since it was not going to be possible for the traffickers to process the papers and cross all the borders without them being busted.

“Big monies were exchanging hands in all this from the police to immigration officials not only in Zimbabwe but in so many other countries that we passed. Almost everything was fake and it’s foolhardy to make anyone believe that the authorities were not noticing it,” she said.

She said there was a need for a deep soul searching exercise by Governments and civil society organisations so that not only holistic but effective approaches could be put in place to arrest the crime of human trafficking.

The problem of human trafficking however, has been a cause of a splitting headache for governments and human rights organisations alike in Africa and efforts to put a permanent halt to the evil practice that perpetuates the treatment of human beings as objects of merchandise have continually evaded the continent.

The continued existence of the practise which according to United Nations can be defined as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation, however, only glorified by those that benefit from it while the victims abhor it as a repackaged and rebranded form of slavery.

In Africa, human trafficking is largely driven by poverty among the continent’s communities and those that are trafficked find themselves in either sex trafficking, forced labour and debt bondage but sexual exploitation is the most common one followed by forced labour according to a report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime as well as the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

There is need therefore for concerted efforts by the continent as a whole if the spread of the human trafficking evil which is the third international crime behind drug and arms trafficking is to be dealt.

One will not be far from the point therefore to suggest that the first step is to establish the cartels behind human trafficking and cut the demand for such inhuman practices — for where there is no demand there is no supply.

The trend has however, been that of slave trade where developing countries were the source and developed countries the destination. And in Africa the supply factors are poverty, human deprivation, bad living conditions, unemployment, gender discrimination, harmful socio-cultural practices, low education and lack of legislative and policy frameworks.

Victims of trafficking often experience harsh physical impacts due to excessive work or the use of force by traffickers. In addition, victims may be exposed to serious health risks, such as HIV/Aids, as well as serious mental health risks. Anxiety, insecurity, fear, and trauma are some of the noted common effects of trafficking on victims.

Although the dilemma is however, that its scope has been exaggerated and often punctuated with inflated guesstimates, there are multiple accounts of undocumented cases, directly and indirectly involving political elites, bureaucratic officials while at the same time exposing the paucity of border controls, corruption and a culture of impunity that is rife in many African countries.

South Africa is one of the preferred destinations by human traffickers while Sudan, DRC, Ethiopia, Zambia, Somalia, Eritrea, Nigeria and many other countries especially those that are in conflicts or facing economic maladies are the source.

Home Affairs deputy minister Cde Obedingwa Mguni said cases of human trafficking were on the increase as more and more people were being deceived with non-existent job offers and studying opportunities.

“We have Zimbabweans who were trafficked to India and are now being charged with drug trafficking there. They were offered jobs and as they were travelling to that country they had their bags stashed with drugs.

“Some had been offered scholarships to study abroad, only to realise that the scholarship does not exist upon arriving in that foreign country. They end up being forced into prostitution, forced labour and some into drug trafficking. When the traffickers are done with them they report their victims as illegal immigrants and they end up being locked up in those foreign countries,” he said.

Cde Mguni said people should verify the authenticity of the scholarships and employment opportunities with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Principal Director in the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Mr Simon Masanga said the Government was rehabilitating victims of human trafficking.

He said they were already seized with assisting some of the women who were trafficked to Kuwait early this year.

“We have assisted the women who were rescued from Kuwait to start income generating projects. Each has been given $1 500 to start their projects. Such projects should continue and we need to mobilise more resources to continue supporting victims of human trafficking while at the same time fighting to end the heinous crime,” said Mr

Masanga.