Every week tens of thousands of refugees flow into South Africa, and each week South Africa ships out a few thousand - more than 1,000 to Zimbabwe alone. But United Nations and police officials say trying to stem the tide is like trying to stop a tsunami with a bucket.Jonathan Martins, programme manager of the UN-funded International Organisation on Migrancy, said South African borders were "incredibly porous". "People from as far away as Ethiopia tend to go to South Africa because there is a perception there are jobs and opportunities (there)."
| Imagine what Ethiopia is like to think of a 3,000 mile trip to South Africa. |
Zimbabwe's The Herald newspaper says syndicates operating at Beit Bridge use South African-registered vehicles to transport people from as far away as Bulawayo to Johannesburg for a fee of R800 to R1 000. They are taken to the Beit Bridge border, where they are guided across the Limpopo and then picked up by taxis on the South African side.
According to Limpopo province police statistics, 753 illegal immigrants were arrested between January 5 and 12, an average of 100 a day. However, this is the rainy season in Limpopo which sees fewer immigrants entering the country as the Limpopo River floods, making the crocodile-infested waters even more hazardous than usual. But even when the river is low it is dangerous.
Jabu Ndebele, a 22-year-old Zimbabwean who goes back and forth across the border carrying items to trade in Zimbabwe, always uses the river route, but recalls that the first time he came with five friends, two were eaten by crocodiles.
Lions in the Kruger Park also regularly attack refugees coming through from Mozambique. United Nations officials and police say human trafficking - the "new slave trade" - is on the increase. Human smuggling is often a choice by people who want to, and will pay to be smuggled into a country.
Martins said someone trafficked to South Africa from a neighbouring state "could be sold for around R500". "Children are more expensive. The price depends on what is considered exotic. We have cases of African women trafficked to Europe for $40 000 (R242 000) and European women trafficked here for R100 000 or R150 000 or more." According to police sources and the International Organisation on Migrancy, women from places like the Democratic Republic of Congo are offered jobs as housekeepers in South Africa, only to have their passports seized and be forced into prostitution.
South Africa is sufficiently concerned about trafficking to have established a task force two years ago and a busy toll free helpline. Police say they have not had a successful prosecution yet against traffickers, hindered by a lack of legislation against the practice in South Africa, in spite of South Africa last year signing the Palermo Protocol, in which nations pledged to fight the scourge.
In South Africa, the Sexual Offences Unit tracks child trafficking, while the Organised Crime Unit attempts to break adult trafficking rings. Police officers complain that, "because there is no legislation, the initiative is on those trafficked to testify, so that we can get a conviction. They may be frightened of the gang or they may want to return to them because they get drugs and are often well treated."
In a major child trafficking case last year involving Johannesburg, Durban and the Eastern Cape, not a single child was prepared to testify. Some ran away and others are back with the Nigerian syndicate leaders who have moved them to the Phalaborwa area, according to a senior source in the National Prosecuting Authority.
The only laws that can be used against traffickers at present include those against sex work, kidnapping, murder or sexual crimes. Criminal investigation authorities say a lack of laws and co-ordination on trafficking between neighbouring countries mean, once a person crosses a border, police in the investigating country are hamstrung.
There are, however, two pieces of legislation pending that include trafficking provisions. The Children's Bill was passed by parliament last year and is waiting to be signed into effect by the president, but the Sexual Offences Bill, which has waited four years to be heard by parliament, is nowhere close to being passed. The SA Law Commission is also working on draft trafficking legislation.
Loren Landau of Forced Migration Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand said, "A lot of people are voluntarily smuggled by syndicates. Many come here with the idea of going to Europe or Canada. They use South Africa as a transit point.
"We have spoken to Home Affairs officials about finding a more humane way of dealing with refugees than very costly forced repatriation. But they are reluctant to recognise asylum seekers, especially from Zimbabwe."