YOUNG female students should stick to their own age group and stay away from sugar daddies – or face the dangers of rape and abduction.
Seasoned police officer, W/O AB Mathonsi, issued this stern warning to women, when he addressed a packed auditorium at the University of Zululand‘s Richards Bay campus on Thursday, on the topic of harmful traditional practices and ‘ukuthwala’.
About 450 students attended the human trafficking workshop, presented by members of Richards Bay SAPS, Freedom Generation SA and the Zululand Observer and supported by LifeLine Zululand and the Mzingazi Community Policing Forum (CPF).
W/O Mathonsi spoke from the personal experience of interviewing a student who was driven to an abandoned area and forced out of a vehicle at night, after refusing sexual intercourse with an older man she had accompanied to a party.
She was thereafter gang-raped by men who had offered her a lift home.
He also chillingly spoke on the mutilation and murder of albinos and children by sangomas who practice witchcraft.
Community volunteer and Mzingazi CPF chairperson, Sharon Mdletshe, confirmed the harrowing discovery of the body of a child, whose genitals and feet were removed.
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Pastor Caroline Pitout of Freedom Generation SA, spoke on the link between drug addiction, sex trafficking and the pornography industry, which is a source of funding for human trafficking as the third biggest branch of organised crime.
‘We look down on prostitutes – curse and spit on them, and they themselves will even tell you that it is their choice to be there.
‘It is not. Victims of human trafficking do not even realise they are enslaved.
‘They have no passports, no money and no means to escape.
‘They are so broken down in spirit and body, they cannot leave their traffickers.
‘Pornography stars may look fantastic and even say they enjoy what they are doing.
‘They are in facts slaves who are used for another person’s pleasure.’
Unizul’s Christina Weyers, Co-Ordinator of the Higher Certificate in Accounting, was the first to take up the challenge by Pastor Pitout by drawing a red cross on her hand and posting a ‘selfie’ on Facebook. The red cross is the international symbol against human trafficking.
Captain Debbie Ferreira and Pastor Pitout commended the campus management and students for hosting the event in style, complete with a four course meal prepared for guests by hospitality students.
‘These young people are our future leaders.
‘They took their own time to come and listen to the presentation and they were an awesome audience,’ said Pastor Pitout.
An estimated 1000 people viewed the exhibition, which was on display on campus prior to the workshop.
The awareness campaigns on campuses are part of an initiative by the KZN Human Trafficking, Harmful Traditional Practices, Pornography, Prostitution and Brothels Task Team of which the Zululand Observer is media partner.
