Hopolang Mokhopi
SIX Basotho women, who were allegedly lured into South Africa on a promise for domestic work, have been rescued by the Ekurhuleni Thatazonke Anti-Crime Unit from a possible human trafficking syndicate.
The six and two other South Africans from Kwa-Zulu Natal were allegedly lured to Gauteng province by a woman, Tiisetso Molise, posing as a recruitment agent for domestic workers on Facebook.
Molise, who is alleged to originate from Butha Buthe, was arrested on Saturday and handed over to the Eden Park Police upon the discovery of the eight women.
According to the Ekurhuleni Thatazonke Anti-Crime Unit’s Duma Tsotetsi, the Palm Ridge Ext. 8 community, in the City of Ekurhuleni, Gauteng, blew the whistle on the captives.
“The community informed us about women who were detained inside the suspect’s house,” Mr Tsotetsi said.
“When we arrived in the area; we found eight women, six of who were Basotho, sharing one room with no food. There were also 10 Lesotho passports and 10 Lesotho national identity cards but the other four owners of those documents were missing.”
He said they discovered that the women had been recruited via Facebook and promised jobs by Molise.
“When these women called her for the jobs she would have advertised on Facebook, she would demand R500 (M500) registration fee before giving them the address to that place where we found them locked up.”
Mr Tsotetsi urged people to verify the legitimacy of job offers and avoid social media relationship proposals to avoid being victims of human trafficking.
Many people from rural areas were becoming victims due to poverty and unemployment, he said.
A similar incident was reported by the South African Police Service in March last year wherein a 22-year-old Mosotho woman was raped and robbed of her belongings in Welkom, Free State, after she was promised employment by an unknown person on Facebook via a page called “A re batlisaneng mesebetsi Basotho“, meaning “Basotho let us assist each other look for employment”.
Upon her arrival in Welkom, she was lured to Jabulani Village where she was raped several times and robbed of her cellphones and luggage.
According to the United States 2023 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, Basotho, especially those form rural areas, were often lured with promises of “lucrative” jobs in South Africa and sometimes even Middle East only for them to be subjected to forced labour or prostitution upon arrival.
