The sexual abuse of young boys at illegal soccer academies, allegedly by their coaches, will be dealt with harshly by the law. That’s according to Police Minister Bheki Cele who raided an illegal academy, in central Johannesburg, this week. A coach, who was granted bail, but failed to appear in court, has also been re-arrested.
SABC’s Special Assignment programme first exposed the illegal soccer academies in 2017. Many teenage boys are lured from rural areas, mainly KwaZulu-Natal, with the promise of being featured in professional soccer teams in Johannesburg. Their parents pay exorbitant monthly fees and are told that the children will be enrolled in professional academies, where they will be fed properly and taken to school.
However, most of the places where they are accommodated are houses with poor living conditions. Even more concerning, are some of the teenagers’ accounts of sexual abuse at the hands of the coaches.
Cele raided one of the properties and found more than 40 teenagers in an over-crowded church building. The youngest child was 10 years-old.
“We suspect that they broke the law, but police will continue to investigate that. Together with MEC Sizakhele, we will take these children to a place of safety for now. Children here, there is a child who is 10 years, 11 years, 12 years and 13 years. What is involved here the most is money. Parents of these children are paying. Another thing, what kills these children is hunger. They say their lunch every day is 4 slice of bread after school.”
Minister of Social Development Suzan Shabangu was also part of the raid. She says these children will be sent to social workers for counselling.
“Even if you want to develop children, there is noise. What kind of a place is this? It is not in good conditions. Some say they are still at school and they are waiting to be admitted. Here in Gauteng already we have 63 000 on a waiting list for school. Now because they are from outside, where are they going get places? Because here we talk about children who were brought by their parents looking for schools. These children, who is looking for schools for them? In a situation like this, there is lot of temptations of drug abuse, but crime also.”
Gauteng MEC for Community Safety, Sizakhele Nkosi-Malobane, when asked whether this could be human trafficking, said that she thinks it is partly trafficking.
“I think so partly because some of the boys are very naïve, a 10 year-old and a 12 year-old and a 13 year-old. If you look at the documentation that is being produced here, none of them have shown that they have been signed by the parents. And these kids have not been officially handed over to these people as their guardians. A 12 year-old really needs a guardian to be there to make sure he is at school, he is fed, he has shelter. And in this case we don’t have such information. Even if it’s from province to province, but it is definitely is human trafficking.”
The Minister said he is aware that there is also an alleged suicide by one of the abused children. He says the matter will be investigated further.
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