The Ministry of Social Development has conceded that all children at poverty stricken communities at the Ratlou Municipality in the North West, remain at risk of being trafficked.
Speaking at the commemorative event of the National Children’s Day, North West MEC for Social Development, Hofman Galeng, says 50 of the under-age children that were trafficked from 28 villages and used as seasonal labourers at Free State farms should be used as a yard-stick to highlight the severity of the risk. The children were rescued and returned home in October this year.
In October, 50 underage children and over 250 people were rescued at Free State farms where they were allegedly trafficked and exploited. A farmer was arrested and the children were returned home. It was later found out that most of the children are from dysfunctional families or child-headed households. All of these children are school drop-outs, something that local authorities confirmed that is happening at an alarming rate even today.
Galeng says, they will pull no stops to ensure that they are taking the children out of the risk of falling prey again. “We need to make children aware that they do have rights to say NO. The biggest problem here is poverty. We need to make both parents and the children that if they are being enticed the matter need to be reported. Trafficking on its own its a crime. They are at risk, yes children here at risk. We are here today to make sure we are taking this children out of this risk. They are at risk. ”
The area is where Social Development Deputy-Minister, Hendrietta Bogopa-Zulu also discovered over 3 000 under-age girls who were either pregnant or had already given birth 2 years ago. The youngest was a ten year old girl with a one year baby. It was also discovered that they were impregnated by older men.
“I left school, I am 15 years. I went to work because I wanted to help my mother. I could see she was really struggling because we are very poor at home,” said one teenager.
“I stay alone most of the time, my parents stay in another village. So I left school too, to look for food. Sometimes we sleep with men because they give us money,” added her friend.
Cathy Seako, is a mother of 8 and stays in a one room-shack with them. She was part of the people that were trafficked to Free State farms with her children, where they were never paid. She talks about her children and that she cannot protect the social effects of poverty.
“We live and sleep together in a one-room house. We have no food, they left school, there’s hunger everyday. I really don’t even know what to do anymore that why I took them to work in farms. They will end up like me with no education, house and live in poverty.”
Lourens Van Niekerk from Child Line says children’s rights are being trampled-upon by the below-standard of living. He says from their assessment there’s a need for national intervention..
“Community is stacked by poverty, they are being exploited into children labour and any form of human trafficking. We need to protect them and ensure their safety. Hunger and no income, they are at high risk and these are the side effects of this poverty here. So much more can be done. The is a need to do more research on the roots of the problem. We need to start and battle this problem together. There’s a need to national plan of action happening right now.”
Social workers have been dispatched in all villages to help out in what authorities say is one of the scariest morden day, poverty in the country. The Ministry of Social Development say they had established progress to deal with the promotion of childrens’ rights in the are
