HUMAN trafficking is real and happening in Mzansi.
This is what speakers said at a seminar on human trafficking held at Unisa’s college of law in Tshwane yesterday.
Grizelda Grootboom, a lecturer and researcher at Unisa, spoke about her painful story.
She said she was forced to work as a s-ex slave at the age of 18 when she moved from Cape Town to Joburg.
“I wanted to start a new life but instead I was trafficked when I arrived in Yeoville.
“I was locked in a room for two weeks and forced to work as a s-ex slave,” she said. Grizelda said she eventually managed to escape at the age of 27 and rebuilt her life.
Another speaker, Marcel van der Watt, a lecturer at Unisa said: “The more people act against human trafficking, the faster we will be able to eradicate it completely.”
He called on the media to start naming and shaming the perpetrators of human trafficking.
“The names of these people should be known to the public so that other people, especially women, don’t fall prey to them.”
Van der Watt said human trafficking was happening around us and that every day a girl or woman was being trafficked.
