Human trafficking hurts kids

Every time I read stories about rescued human trafficking victims, I can’t help but feel sorry for them.

It’s sad that fellow Africans, especially those from the SADC region, are lured with promises of Jozi streets that are painted with gold. These people only realise when they get to the city that they have been duped.

Having been in Joburg for more than 20 years, I can safely say that the city can be unforgiving for ill-prepared people. It’s worrying that busloads of young people are trafficked into our country while there are people who are supposed to guard our borders.

There’s clearly a lucrative market in human trade, otherwise it would have stopped if it wasn’t profitable.

This whole trade deprives young people an opportunity to grow up as normal human beings. It’s worse for children who may not even understand until they are in the middle of the nightmare. They are also stories about farmers who enjoy free labour by employing illegal immigrants, especially kids, but when they’re supposed to pay them, they threaten to report them to Home Affairs.

Lessons from slavery say that preference is usually given to children because they are easy to train and are unlikely to fight back.

Paedophiles also prowl this market because some of these young kids end up being sold to them. Older ones are put in the streets as prostitutes and drug peddlers, on behalf of a pimp.

It boils down to our government to do something. As a country, we have a responsibility to stop any form of abuse. Human trafficking victims suffer immeasurable abuse, as such, we’re letting these kids down in a big way. Richardson Mzaidume, Pimville