5.2 Presentation of the data pertaining to the interview questions
5.2.4 Questions 11 and 19
“Is current legislation adequate to assist SAPS to respond to human trafficking in DPA?” and
“How effective are your strategies in responding to human trafficking in DPA?”
Not all the participants reflected the same understanding pertaining to the above questions.
Some found that it worked well for other structures in CJS but not for the SAPS:
“I personally find it adequate because with the legislation we have and the evidence we are able to gather, the trafficker is charged [convicted] with life sentence of 15 years for sexual
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exploitation. A perpetrator who is charged for human trafficking, is charged for rape, perpetrator is charged for kidnapping, perpetrator is charged for abduction, perpetrator is charged for drugs, perpetrator is charged for keeping of brothel, perpetrator is charged for money laundering and perpetrator is charged for proceeds of crime but society is not part of the legislation which leaves the huge problem.” (PO-1)
“The legislation is adequate but it needs to be enforced in policing units. And there is a huge need that police in all structures are fully trained to be able to detect crimes such as human trafficking at all levels. Again, police should be completely educated on how they may apply the legislation in their level because one legislation could be applied differently by different structures making up the criminal justice system of the country.” (PO-2)
“Yes, but a lot is dealt with in structures such as prosecutions and courts so we as SAPS are left with the task to do the arrests and investigations.” (PO-3)
“I might say it is adequate, the strength is needed in the implementation phase. Police at the police station level are not educated in these legislations. They should be educated to detect human trafficking-related incidents because the incident in most cases is firstly reported to them before it reaches our offices as investigators. Again, society plays a huge role in fighting crime, in that way we need them so the legislation should create ways we could fully work with society.” (PO-4)
“Yes, it helps in two ways in dealing with perpetrators – government in response to this crime code through legislation has introduced two chapters in the Act 4&5 under POCA [the Prevention of Organized Crime Act). Chapter 4 deals with criminal aspects of this crime code e.g., when you arrest perpetrators and prosecute them. In Chapter 5 - civil once the perpetrators have been arrested and prosecuted the police are able to deal with civil aspects of the investigation which include attaching the assets as they are regarded as proceeds of crime. Thus we do not wait for the outcome of the criminal case with the help of financial investigation submit application at high court to seize your assets.” (PO-5)
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Regarding the effectiveness of their strategies, the personnel from two NGOs held differing opinions:
“In spite of the whole effort from relevant structures, people are still ignoring that the phenomenon exists. We have developed a walk, people are becoming receptive, and we educate even young children. In this regard, we have gained a lot because year by year the number of the participants becomes doubled so in that way the strategy has yielded some good results, more particularly because it was developed to grapple with the crime and to see people joining in numbers.” (NGO P1)
“They are effective. One case we had involved a child who got assisted because community members had seen the suspicious situation and they get to understand incidents relate to human trafficking because we make sure we provide education.” (NGO P2)
“I will not lie; it is very hard because human trafficking is massively growing, but our strategies have done something on the part of making people cautious of human trafficking.
Although, other people are not taking the matter seriously but the number of the attendance grows each year so I feel like our campaigns are doing something.” (NGO P3)
“It is hard because we are a small organisation that lacks resources. This leads to shortage of staff and resources. Nevertheless, some strategies do work and we find out about that through making the follow-up. We always urge the community to engage in campaigns but people are ignorant. I believe they have power to change the current situation of human trafficking in the world at large.” (NGO P4)
“They are making a difference, for instance in schools children know nothing about human trafficking so it helps getting to them and educating them. School children like material things that is why they easily fall prey to traffickers. Our strategies are targeting the schools and entire society. We run those programmes in halls and clinics to be able to get high numbers to attend.” (NGO P5)
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The perception of most participants regarding the current legislative framework revealed comprehensive insight but lacked specificity. However, they generally agreed that limited collaboration was a problem and they agreed that all role-players should be involved through adequate legislation in combating human trafficking. This finding is anchored by Yaso (2015), who emphasises that state structures, NGOs and society should collaborate in their efforts to deal with all manner of crime.