Police in Mpumalanga have rescued 50 suspected victims of human trafficking from various houses in eMalahleni. This after a raid was conducted on Saturday morning to rid the area of drugs and prostitution.
The women claim to have been kept against their will and forced to do sex work.
About 150 people were taken in for questioning.
Of the women rescued, some were sex workers and others captured against their will.
One of the sex workers explains, “We want to provide for our families, we have children. Some may be here for drugs or something else. We have problems, we talk about these things. Where I come from in Newcastle we do prostitution to get money.”
On Wednesday, seven women were rescued from the clutches of pimps in the area.
Police spokesperson Brigadier Leonard Hlathi says, “We cannot allow this situation to continue and in the process, we also found that some of these women here in the country illegally because they don’t have proper documentation and all of this women are coming from all of the provinces in the country.”
A teacher in eMalahleni says she feels safer after the raid.
“It’s long overdue, I mean the kids come out every day and they see the ladies across the road and they know whats going on here and I feel safer today. I’m happy about what’s happening and I wanna say good job.”
Over 50 undocumented foreign nationals were arrested and will be deported once processed.
Operations like this will soon be conducted in other towns within the province.
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