Sex trafficking of Basotho women soars

TEBOHO KHATEBE MOLEFI

MASERU – Unemployment, poverty, and migrant vulnerability are the root of the country’s spiralling sex trafficking problem, stakeholders have warned.

A new 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report published recently by the US State Department shows a shocking increase in the sex trafficking of Basotho women into the neighbouring South Africa, enabled by complicit officials in the two countries.

Victims, the June 24 report reveals, are mainly trafficked with impunity to the South African cities of Bloemfontein, Johannesburg, Durban, and Cape Town, with the crime taking worrying dimensions.

As reported over the past five years by the US State Department, human traffickers continue to exploit victims from Lesotho. Limited economic opportunities, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and inflation, have resulted in vulnerable populations.

Modern-day slavery

This includes women and orphaned children enticed by traffickers with false promises of legitimate employment or educational opportunities—to migrate from Lesotho into South African urban areas and to the Middle East in large numbers.

Traffickers, including in religious institutions, among others, fraudulently advertise scholarships or lucrative jobs in the hospitality sector on social media to recruit victims into forced labour and sex trafficking.

“Basotho women and girls seeking work migrate to South Africa, where traffickers detain some in prison-like conditions and exploit others in sex trafficking, notably in Welkom and Klerksdorp. “Some parents send children to South Africa to work as domestic workers, and they are exploited in forced labour,” reads part of the report. 

The report further highlights that “traffickers target factory workers in Maseru with offers of lucrative employment in South Africa and force them to work in factories in Newcastle and Mandeni, South Africa.”

The US State Department report further claims that traffickers connected to organised crime syndicates operating in South Africa allegedly exploit Basotho men in derelict and unregulated gold mines. Some of the miners, known as the “zama zamas,” recruit young girls to exploit sex trafficking syndicates in the neighbouring republic.

Traffickers compel Basotho to commit crimes in South Africa, including theft, drug trafficking, and smuggling under threats of violence, the report says. The report also notes that climate change, including slow-onset climate events such as flooding and droughts, has negatively impacted agricultural production and food security in recent times, increasing vulnerabilities to trafficking.

Increased unemployment due to the closure of factories in the country has also been pointed out as a catalyst for some undocumented Basotho to enter South Africa in search of work, which increases their vulnerability to trafficking.

According to the 2023 Africa Organised Crime Index compiled by the Institute for Security Studies, Lesotho is a source country for human trafficking because of its geographical isolation within South Africa and its poor economic and social conditions, indicating also that “the borders between these two countries are porous and loosely managed, making human trafficking from Lesotho into South Africa easy.”

“Smuggled people are frequently subjected to labour and sexual exploitation once in South Africa.” The Migrant Workers Association of Lesotho (MWAL) is troubled by the picture painted by this report and lays the blame squarely on the country’s failure to create jobs for its citizens, which leads many to seek jobs elsewhere where they easily fall prey to human traffickers.

Poverty

The association acknowledges that Lesotho suffers high levels of trafficking in persons, particularly in women, children, and people living in poverty.

“The report shows in no uncertain terms that sex trafficking is real in our country and that most cases emanate from advertised job vacancies on the internet. Unlike in the past when we seldom had cases of trafficking, nowadays there are a lot of social media platforms and prowling recruiting agencies that promise people jobs in various sectors.

“This has become a conduit through which many fall into the hands of traffickers, giving impetus to more attempts to lure people into the ring. Now, unlike in the past when people were recruited for menial jobs like domestic work, there is a large pool of unemployed educated people willing to jump at any given job offer without even authenticating them,” says MWAL executive director, Lerato Nkhetše.

He said high levels of irregular migration to South Africa are fuelled by the search for better opportunities and that this provides an enabling environment for human traffickers, who frequently pick up and exploit undocumented travellers. 

“Socio-economic factors including poverty, unemployment, lack of job opportunities, and high food insecurity caused by recurrent droughts all fuel irregular migration and increase individuals’ exposure to trafficking.”

This is similarly the view of former Development Planning minister and current Socialist Revolutionaries deputy leader, Tlohelang Aumane, who argues that to minimise human trafficking, the government needs to harmonise relations with South Africa for the sake of Basotho seeking employment and residency there for different purposes.

“The government needs to fight unemployment and poverty that Basotho fall into more and more every day. They should make an effort to ensure that all Basotho whose passports need to be renewed are assisted and that this is done promptly and at the lowest cost.

“Our government must understand that the plight of Basotho resident in South Africa should remain a priority and more should be done to help them get the services they require to be safe and are able to get services they need from the South African government such as the Lesotho Special Permit. The remittances coming from that country are worth a huge investment to ensure that they continue without any hindrance,” he said.

Remittances

Lesotho has about 2.1 million inhabitants, 27% of which are urbanised, and GDP per capita in 2014 was only US$1 034 (slightly under M20 000).

Remittance inflows have historically been a major source of foreign exchange, accounting for as much as 44% of GDP as recently as 2006 (although by 2014 this had fallen to 17% of GDP). Remittances to Lesotho were estimated at 20 percent of GDP as at 2021.

These substantial remitting levels have been driven by equally substantial migration to South Africa in particular. The backbone of Basotho remittances from South Africa has traditionally been the mining industry, which employed large numbers of Basotho. However, these numbers have also declined rapidly.

For example, while almost 65 000 Basotho were employed on South African mines in 2000, by 2015 that number had declined to only 27 948. However, this does not mean levels of emigration from Lesotho decreased; instead, the level of female migration has been increasing, with many Basotho women opting to work for very low wages as domestic workers.

The desperation for any form of income in South Africa has provided the breeding ground for parasitic human traffickers.

On the other hand, legislator Advocate Lekhetho Rakuoane said in an interview that while it is not clear what percentage of trafficked people are organised from Lesotho and how many are trafficked while already in South Africa looking for jobs, officials are complicit in allowing criminal elements (lirurubele) to facilitate illegal border crossing, which amounts to trafficking of persons.

Advocate Rakuoane said Basotho women are mainly trafficked for purposes of payment of slave wages and sexual exploitation by some employers in the neighbouring republic, while some are forced into prostitution and used as sex workers. 

“The main causes are unemployment and undocumented migration,” he said, adding that “we need cross-border agreements between Lesotho and South Africa, and these should provide for a joint task team to combat human trafficking.”

Global Slavery Index 2023 ‘Modern Slavery in Lesotho’ has put it as a priority recommendation to the government of Lesotho to criminalise human trafficking in line with international conventions, and the government has since made strides and maintained anti-trafficking prevention efforts with the Anti-Trafficking Multi-Sectoral Committee (MSC), which coordinates anti-trafficking efforts, meeting six times during the reporting period.

MSC assessed implementation of the NRM, identified emerging trafficking trends throughout the country, and identified gaps in law enforcement response to trafficking; the findings helped inform anti-trafficking trainings for district officials.

This birthed the National Strategic Framework and Action Plan (NSFAP) to Combat Trafficking in Persons for 2021-2026, providing a roadmap for anti-trafficking efforts that delineated responsibilities among government ministries.

The government also dedicated resources to continue its implementation during the reporting period. The Ministry of Home Affairs allocated M536 960 for trafficking awareness, training, and prevention activities in the 2024 budget.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also maintained focal points based in all 20 of Lesotho’s foreign missions and consulates to respond to cases of human trafficking of its citizens identified abroad and continued disseminating a trafficking in persons handbook for diplomats, developed in partnership with an international organisation.