Keep Going by Jennifer Crow
There were some ups and downs regarding the prosecution of human trafficking in Lesotho during my last week in the country, but mostly opportunities for us to continue step by step in moving forward. Before I discuss some of the developments, let me tell a story:
A 16-year-old Basotho girl, (let’s call her Mpho), was brought to the Beautiful Dream shelter a few months ago. She had been what is called in Africa “a child on the move”. Her parents separated when she was 1 when she was taken to live with her maternal grandmother. Her father died when she was 4 and her grandmother died when she was 5; Mpho was then sent to live with her uncle on her mother’s side. Shortly after that, Mpho moved in with her mother until her mother got married, so the girl was sent to her great-grandmother’s home and her younger brother was sent to another grandfather’s home. At her great-grandmother’s home, Mpho dropped out of school due to financial constraints and needing to take care of the domestic chores of the household. Desiring to better her situation, at the age of 15, Mpho took a job caring for two children of a single mom, age 3 and 1. After about 3 months of working there, the mother of the children didn’t come home one day and with no prior warning left Mpho to care for the children with no money and no provisions. After several days with no food, some people in the community called the police who told Mpho to take the children to their relatives. The relatives refused to take the children in, so the police took the children to the village chief where they ended up being referred to the Department of Social Welfare. Mpho was then told of a job in a neighboring Lesotho village to which she was given directions and money for taxi transport. On her way to this village, she was called by a relative who redirected her to another town near the South African border, where she was told a woman who had a job caring for a child would be waiting for her. She met the woman who had ‘connections’ at the border and took her across with someone else’s passport into a border town in South Africa. She was promised a monthly salary of 400 Maloti (equivalent to $60 USD) per month, but after the first month was only paid 200 Maloti with no prior agreement.
The working conditions at the house were unbearable to Mpho, and she said the lady of the house mistreated her. After several encounters with her boss, in which she felt threatened, intimidated, and abused, she became fearful and decided to leave the house even though she was afraid to contact the police, because she did not have a passport. With no money, no food, no transportation, and no way of contacting her relatives in Lesotho for help, she roamed the streets of the South African town looking for food and shelter. While on the street, she met a girl who said she could help her find a place to stay until she earned enough money to go home. This temporary shelter ended up being a house where three young men lived with whom she had to exchange sexual favors for a place to sleep and food to eat. Despite her predicament, her lack of identity documents and fear kept her from contacting the police. Finally, she related her story to a woman on the street who accompanied her to the South African police for help. The South African police then called the Lesotho police who brought Mpho back to Lesotho where she was taken to safety at the Beautiful Dream Centre Shelter for victims of human trafficking.
This was only the beginning of healing during a long, difficult few weeks that turned into months. For many weeks, Mpho suffered from symptoms of extreme Post Traumatic Stress including severe nightmares and periods when she would ‘black out’ and lay limp and lifeless. Her health was poor as she complained of many ailments and after a time, and a second pregnancy test, it became obvious that she had become pregnant by one of the men at the house in which she had stayed.
Since Mpho came to the BDS Shelter in June 2011, there have never been any formal charges files against any potential perpetrators on either side of the border as of Dec. 2011.
Here are some interesting perspectives on the case:
Department of Public Prosecution:
Human trafficking was just made illegal in the country of Lesotho in January of 2011, with heavy penalties of between 15 and 25 years in jail for convicted persons. There has only been one case in which an accused perpetrator of human trafficking has been remanded (similar to being ‘arraigned’ in the US legal system) thus far, so there is no precedent developed from which the police and prosecutors can draw knowledge and experience. This makes it understandably difficult for the Lesotho justice system to move forward against the crime of trafficking in persons. The Department of Public Prosecution looked at the evidence taken by the Lesotho police in Mpho’s case, and determined that the lady who took Mpho across the border with someone else’s passport did not have ‘trafficking’in mind as a motive, but was just trying to get her a legitimate job, so, in the Department’s opinion, she could not be prosecuted for human trafficking.
Lesotho Police Officer:
After questioning Mpho, the South Africa Police claim that the 16-year-old did not go to the police when she was allegedly raped, and therefore sexual abuse cannot be proved. They also claim she was living as a prostitute so her abusers cannot be prosecuted under South Africa’s Sexual Offences Act. By the way, Human Trafficking is not defined under South African law other than by ratification of the Palermo Protocol, and it seems that it is therefore difficult to prove and prosecute.
When the police officer who investigated the case saw that the prosecutor was not going to prosecute the case under the Trafficking in Persons Act, he allegedly went to the lady who took Mpho across the border and he threatened her with the hefty 15-25 year jail sentence and offered to make sure the case was not prosecuted in exchange for a bribe of 30,000 Rand (around $3,750 USD). This might have gone unnoticed by anyone, but a few weeks later, he allegedly asked for an additional 5000 Rand that he said was required by the Prosecutor to ensure the case stayed out of court. The story goes that the accused questioned this additional request for a $5000 bribe and went to the Prosecution department herself to verify whether or not the case was actually going to court. During this encounter, the accused somehow let the prosecutor know of the first bribe, at which time, the prosecutor reported the issue to the police who proceeded to arrest the police officer accused of taking a bribe. The accused police officer was jailed for a few days, said to have been put on administrative leave, and then allegedly transferred to a different police department pending a full investigation. Even though Mpho’s alleged recruiter supposedly admitted that she gave a 30,000 Rand bribe to the police officer, she is not set to be prosecuted since she is testifying against the police officer. The police officer denies taking the first bribe and claims that he was framed by fellow policemen due to competing interdepartmental disagreements. He claims that the police who arrested him askedhimto givethemmoney in exchange for them dropping the case against him.
South African Police:
After questioning Mpho, the South Africa Police claim that the 16-year-old did not go to the police when she was allegedly raped, and therefore sexual abuse cannot be proved. They also claim she was living as a prostitute so her abusers cannot be prosecuted under South Africa’s Sexual Offences Act. By the way, Human Trafficking is not defined under South African law other than by ratification of the Palermo Protocol, and it seems that it is therefore difficult to prove and prosecute.
Beautiful Dream Society:
BDS has been caring hour-by-hour, day-by-day, and week-by-week for this teen-ager and has seen her pain and suffering. Because of generous donors in the US, committed African and US volunteer caregivers, and BDS’ connections within the community, Mpho’s medical, psychological, physical, emotional, spiritual, and educational needs are being supplied, but what about her ongoing needs, future needs, and the needs of her child? Who will pay for the crimes committed against Mpho? Orwerethere any crimes committed against Mpho?
It seems that there are many elements of human trafficking in Mpho’s story. Why not allow this case to be reconsidered and tried in court especially in light of the fact that the lead police officer in the investigation has been formally accused of bribery in the case? Since he was the only police officer involved in the investigation, can the facts of the case, as recorded by him, be trusted?
Another Perspective–South African Lady in the JFK Airport:
As I was on my way home to Oklahoma from Lesotho, I was in the JFK Airport in New York City. Coincidentally, on the train from Terminal 4 to Terminal 3, I sat next to a lady who was leaving that day to South Africa from where I had just returned. She was a black, middle-aged, South African with a tribal language accent, who lived near Johannesburg. We were engaging in small talk about South Africa when she asked what brought me to Lesotho. After I explained that I worked for an anti-human trafficking organization in Lesotho, she proceeded to ‘set me straight’ about human trafficking and the Basotho people. It seemed important to her for me to understand her perspective. She told me two things which caused her to doubt there was human trafficking in Lesotho: (1) She stated that the people of Lesothowantedto get jobs in South Africa and that they willingly crossed the border (2) She said the people of Lesotho did not want to pay Lebola (the bride price, or dowry) but willingly lived together as husband and wife, so the issue of forced marriage was not valid.
Although I agreed that her descriptions may be typical scenarios in Lesotho, I briefly gave her some examples of situations BDS had seen in the shelter that pointed to a different conclusion, including underage Mpho’s case where she was taken across the border with a false passport, promised certain wages but paid less that what was promised, and intimidated into not contacting law enforcement. I realized that although I was not going to change my airport acquaintance’s perception, which had been developed over a lifetime, in just the few minutes we had on the train together, perhaps I could at least plant a seed of awareness of the issue of human trafficking.
With the passing of the Anti-Human Trafficking law recently enacted, and the Child Protection and Welfare Act, Lesotho is leading the way in Southern Africa in improving the country’s value of the human rights of people of all ages.May I encourage Lesotho to continue in the path of change it has chosen. Work to investigate and prosecute these cases with skill, courage, honesty and integrity.