Child slaves ‘sold’ for R390: Irin

JOHANNESBURG – Roads and border posts between Maputo in Mozambique and Johannesburg were fast becoming a highway along which child slaves, who were sold for as little as R390, were brought in, Irin reported on Sunday.

Irin is the news agency of the United Nations. According to the report the smuggling of children as household or sex slaves gradually increased since the two governments decided in the early nineties to revive the trade route.Management of the Amazing Grace Children’s Home (AGCH), a child welfare organisation in Malelane near the Lebombo border post between the two countries, alleged nearly 100 children from Mozambique and Swaziland were smuggled to Johannesburg along this route every month.Vusi Ndukuya, AGCH’s specialist on child smuggling, said these children were sold to the local sex industry or taken to Europe.According to Ndukuya, human smuggling syndicates along this route included border post officials, members of the police, taxi and truck drivers and members of local communities.”Every month at least 15 new children, who either escaped or were left along the road by the smugglers, are placed into AGCH’s care.If so many slip away, there are many more who are actually sold,” said Ndukuya.As little information existed about this type of smuggling, Ndukuya himself looked into the matter during October this year.He went to the border town of Lebombo with a colleague and pretended to be a bar owner from Johannesburg who was looking for young dancers and prostitutes.After about 12 hours in two bars, he was approached by a woman who said she could find girls.”I gave her my number and she left.Three days later she phoned to tell me that she had young girls ready to be sent to Johannesburg and that I can buy them for R390 each.””I asked her whether the girls knew where they would be going to and what they would be expected to do.She said they were very young and knew nothing and should therefore be easy to handle,” said Ndukuya.BeeldAccording to the report the smuggling of children as household or sex slaves gradually increased since the two governments decided in the early nineties to revive the trade route.Management of the Amazing Grace Children’s Home (AGCH), a child welfare organisation in Malelane near the Lebombo border post between the two countries, alleged nearly 100 children from Mozambique and Swaziland were smuggled to Johannesburg along this route every month.Vusi Ndukuya, AGCH’s specialist on child smuggling, said these children were sold to the local sex industry or taken to Europe.According to Ndukuya, human smuggling syndicates along this route included border post officials, members of the police, taxi and truck drivers and members of local communities.”Every month at least 15 new children, who either escaped or were left along the road by the smugglers, are placed into AGCH’s care.If so many slip away, there are many more who are actually sold,” said Ndukuya.As little information existed about this type of smuggling, Ndukuya himself looked into the matter during October this year.He went to the border town of Lebombo with a colleague and pretended to be a bar owner from Johannesburg who was looking for young dancers and prostitutes.After about 12 hours in two bars, he was approached by a woman who said she could find girls.”I gave her my number and she left.Three days later she phoned to tell me that she had young girls ready to be sent to Johannesburg and that I can buy them for R390 each.””I asked her whether the girls knew where they would be going to and what they would be expected to do.She said they were very young and knew nothing and should therefore be easy to handle,” said Ndukuya.Beeld