SAVED FROM TRAFFICKERS
Peddie mom’s suspicions prompt probe into ‘job’
THE Hawks and their international law-enforcement counterpart Interpol have rescued a 22-year-old Eastern Cape woman at the O R Tambo International Airport, in Johannesburg late last week as she was allegedly being smuggled out of the country by human traffickers.
Saphetha Mabona, from Peddie, was told that she was going to work in a beauty parlour in Uganda for six months but Hawks and Interpol investigations reveal the place was not a beauty parlour but a “restaurant”.
Apparently Mabona saw an advert on the internet which sought to employ a beauty therapist to work at a beauty parlour in the foreign country.
Saphetha applied for the post and immediately plane tickets were procured for her and she was requested to travel to Uganda by January 18.
The recruiters paid for all her oneway plane tickets from East London airport to Entebbe International Airport.
The Hawks intercepted her as she was about to board a flight from South Africa to Kampala, Uganda.
Speaking to the Daily Dispatch yesterday, Mabona said she was grateful her stubborn mother and siblings had insisted that there be a check to see if the company she was going to work for, actually existed.
“Like any young woman, I was excited to travel and work in another country, but luckily my mother and sisters insisted on checking the company … I don’t know what would have happened to me if I was allowed to travel,” she said.
Her mother, Khayakazi Mabona, said it was a traumatic experience, especially when they realised they had released her to travel to strangers in Uganda.
“She’s a qualified beauty therapist and when there was work available for her, we were all excited and she was equally excited to travel to that country. But I got scared when I realised they gave her a six-month contract when her visa only allowed her a 30-day stay there. It also did not state that this was for work; it said she would be there as a tourist. The recruiters said they would fix that in Uganda and I said let me involve the police,” her mother said.
Mabona visited the Hawks and told them what was happening and they promised to investigate. She also spoke to a number of people, who helped her research the company.
One of the people she spoke to, Petros Majola of Khula Community Development, said: “Parents must always research and involve our organisation and the Hawks. Also, police should be be equipped to assist, mostly those from rural areas who have no access to modern technology, to do research. The victim’s mother is a brave woman,” said Majola.
According to Mabona, her daughter was interviewed via Skype. “After the interview, they immediately told her she’s got the job and arranged for her plane tickets. She was told to travel earlier this month, but we asked for postponement as we wanted her to visit an immunisation clinic and we agreed on January 18.”
On January 18, Saphetha travelled to Gauteng, but the Hawks were already there. They had discovered that the beauty parlour did not exist.
Hawks national spokesman, Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi confirmed this.
“The victim’s mother raised the alarm after she got suspicious about the entire trip. It was found she had no work permit and was only allowed to visit the country for one month – yet according to her prospective employer, she was to work there for six months. She contacted the Hawks in East London who contacted Interpol in order to establish the legitimacy of this beauty parlour,” said Mulaudzi.
Investigations revealed the beauty parlour was in fact a restaurant.
“The task team members travelled to Johannesburg and managed to rescue the victim at O R Tambo International Airport as she was about to board a flight bound for Uganda. The investigations continue,” he said.
The young woman was then taken to a safe house in Pretoria the same day and was only released on Sunday and driven back to the Eastern Cape with the Hawks team, led by Captain Lulama Jack.
Jack is from the Hawks’ Eastern Cape trafficking in persons task team. —
I got scared when I realised that they gave her a six-month contract when her visa only allowed her a 30-day stay there. It also did not state that this was for work