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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 PRETORIA 001551 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV KTIP PHUM SF
SUBJECT: G/TIP AMBASSADOR LUIS CDEBACA'S JULY 6-10 VISIT TO 
SOUTH AFRICA 
 
REF: A. PRETORIA 298 
     ¶B. PRETORIA 271 
     ¶C. JOHANNESBURG 99 
 
 
------- 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1.  (SBU) In his first country visit as G/TIP Director, 
Ambassador Luis CdeBaca met on July 6-7 and July 9-10 with 
South African government officials; police, prosecutors, and 
judges; civil society organizations and G/TIP grant 
recipients; and radio and newspaper reporters regarding the 
country's efforts to combat Trafficking in Persons (TIP). 
South Africa's recent removal from G/TIP's "Watch List" 
reflects multiple areas of progress explored during the 
visit: legislative groundwork, intersectoral coordination 
mechanisms, law enforcement "task teams," awareness and 
training programs, and victim care.  Interlocutors 
underscored, however, that more effort is still needed to 
educate and energize law enforcement, to root out corruption, 
and to acknowledge and address forced labor and labor 
trafficking. Passage of the pending TIP law and criminal 
convictions in ongoing TIP cases are particularly key 
milestones in order for South Africa to remain off the Watch 
List.  End Summary. 
 
------------------------------------ 
EC: Slow Progress, Possible DoJ Lead 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶2.  (SBU) As South Africa's main anti-TIP donor, European 
Commission (EC) officials described their experience as a 
mixed one, of start-up frustrations but also of outcomes due 
this year at last.  With total funding of 6.3 million euros 
(US$ 9 million), the TIP program in South Africa is the EC's 
largest worldwide, spanning four components of capacity 
building, awareness, research, and intersectoral 
coordination.  Operations Head Gerard McGovern said the grant 
format of funding created administrative headaches with the 
National Prosecuting Agency (NPA)'s Sexual Offences and 
Community Affairs (SOCA) unit, where the capacity of just two 
TIP staff was limited.  (When their boss was out of town, "it 
all stops.")  Now after much "handholding," said McGovern, 
"we are over the hump and ready for action."  By year-end, 
the EC's awaited outcomes included extensive 
train-the-trainer sessions, an accredited TIP curriculum, 
sensitization of media and other stakeholders, and initial 
research data. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Program Manager Caroline Valette-Landry advised 
that the programs' slow progress might cause the SAG to 
elevate TIP organizationally, as well as prompt the EC to 
reconsider its assistance.  While the NPA had shown "strong 
ownership" on TIP, its intersectoral coordination was 
especially lagging.  The EC felt a change was afoot, whereby 
the Department of Justice (DoJ) would take over the lead on 
TIP from the NPA.  (Note: Later corroborated by the DoJ's 
Advocate Shireen Said, this shift would be in line with the 
more expansive coverage of the coming TIP law, which extends 
far beyond the SOCA's gender violence focus.  End Note.)  For 
the EC's part, an upcoming mid-cycle review would question 
the continuation of funding to a mid-income country. 
Valette-Landry was exasperated by the NPA's expectation that 
the EC foot every TIP expense with no cost sharing.  Noting 
that current SAG budgets did not provide for TIP, despite the 
pending TIP Bill's requirements, her view was that "foreign 
donors shouldn't pour in more money until the South African 
government invests some too." 
Qgovernment invests some too." 
 
------------------------------------ 
TIP Law: SAG Hopes to Pass This Year 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶4.  (U) Authorities assured us the pending TIP Bill could be 
put to vote this year.  The Bill's public comment period was 
extended until the end of July due to robust volumes of 
inputs and interest.  Deputy Justice Minister Andries Nel 
said the new Parliament was in recess after April's 
elections, but the Minister would introduce the Bill for 
debate after August, aiming to "have it in place by 2010." 
 
PRETORIA 00001551  002 OF 005 
 
 
Answering the Ambassador's concern that anti-TIP momentum 
could drop off after the 2010 World Cup, Nel asserted the 
contrary: "2010 is a catalyst, but this is a long-term 
process requiring new structures -- and those will endure." 
Law Reform Commission (SALRC)'s Lowesa Stuurman echoed Nel's 
forecast, saying "The commitment is there.... (T)here is no 
reason why it should not pass this year."  Having seen other 
bills bog down in implementation, Stuurman stressed that all 
affected SAG agencies had been thoroughly consulted on the 
TIP Bill to ensure advance agreement. 
 
----------------------------------- 
NPA's Inter-Sectoral Planning Plans 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) The SAG's lead officer on TIP, the NPA's Advocate 
Thoko Majokweni, hosted for the Ambassador's benefit a 
special session of its Inter-Sectoral Task Team, presenting 
interagency progress and priorities against TIP.  EC-funded 
research was about to commence, a third provincial task team 
was launched, and a baseline study for an awareness campaign 
was complete.  The National Action Plan, (re-)launched in 
May, had identified need areas such as data collection into a 
central data base, improved border control, public awareness, 
national coordination, strategies for international events 
(like the World Cup), measures against corruption, witness 
protection, public education, and regional coordination. 
Team members from various SAG agencies, the International 
Organization for Migration (IOM), and UN Office on Drugs and 
Crime (UNODC) added remarks after the NPA's.  Ambassador 
CdeBaca concurred with the emphasis on interagency 
collaboration. 
 
-------------------------------------- 
"Task Teams": Promising, but Fledgling 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (U) Kwa Zulu Natal (KZN) established the SAG's first 
provincial task team, against the odds given widespread 
ignorance on TIP, and KZN remains the jewel in the NPA's 
crown.  (Two task teams have followed in Western Cape and 
lately in Limpopo, but the remaining six provinces lag far 
behind.)  Durban member and Organized Crime Unit (OCU) police 
investigator Abi Dayanand said he stumbled upon the topic of 
TIP in 2007, via a high-profile case of sexually exploited 
Thai women.  He and his colleagues educated themselves on TIP 
using any source they could find, from NGOs to TV dramas. 
They applied whatever statutes could stick, from heavyweight 
organized crime acts to minor bylaws (like massage parlor 
regulations). OCU's collaboration with local prosecutors and 
social workers grew organically from individuals' shared 
commitment.  As the EC's Valette-Landry described, "KZN has 
always been unique... you can see even in their body language 
that they are a close-knit group." 
 
¶7.  (U) KZN's model will be hard to replicate and still faces 
uphill challenges.  Cooperation hinges on individual members' 
passion and commitment, and interpersonal chemistry which 
cannot be mandated from Pretoria.  The team has only seven 
police investigators across the province, who are not 
full-time allocated to TIP but rather network informally on 
their own initiative.  Despite the complexity of TIP, 
Dayanand says his OCU unit can only handle it on a "7:30 to 4 
pm" basis.  Advocate Val Lotan, the KZN team's pioneering 
prosecutor, also stressed the need for TIP-dedicated 
Qprosecutor, also stressed the need for TIP-dedicated 
detectives.  From both workload and ignorance, police failed 
to dig deeply to differentiate between TIP and prostitution, 
and hence the cases coming to light were only the "tip of the 
iceberg."  She also noted that better surveillance equipment 
was required, since syndicates had evolved to a level of 
sophistication beyond that of the police.  Despite the 
hurdles, Lotan was upbeat: "Give us six months -- set us a 
deadline -- and we will produce results.  We are already 
doing so, with very limited resources." 
 
----------------------------- 
Training -- Needs and Hurdles 
----------------------------- 
 
¶8.  (SBU) The need for expanded TIP education for government 
officials, social workers, media, and the public on TIP was 
commonly cited.  Within the EC-funded initiatives, the IOM 
 
PRETORIA 00001551  003 OF 005 
 
 
has the lead on running train-the-trainers sessions and 
drafting an accredited generalist curriculum.  Within the 
judiciary, the International Association of Women Judges 
(IAWJ) is using G/TIP grant funding for an "interdisciplinary 
event" to sensitize judges and magistrates.  Embassy Pretoria 
staffer Marcel Ramkishun noted that only DHS/ICE is offering 
full courses of a law enforcement caliber, from lead 
generation to investigation to intelligence gathering through 
to trial testimony.  Advocate Lotan cited such specialist 
training as the number one need of prosecutors.  Embassy 
advisor Willie Pannell noted that the USG had contractually 
committed -- via the Third Amendment to the Letter of 
Agreement (ALOA) signed by the USG and SAG in September 2007 
-- to provide anti-TIP training to South African police and 
prosecutors under State/INL's Women's Justice and Empowerment 
Initiative (WJEI), but INL was now retreating from areas it 
felt belonged to G/TIP. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Beyond training, sources cited a slew of hurdles to 
police effectiveness, particularly widespread corruption. 
Detective Dayanand said that many cops still stigmatized 
prostitutes, not treating them as human beings.  ICE's 
Ramkishun warned of conflicts of interest, stemming from 
racial divides within the force or police reliance on 
brothels as informants.  Police were allegedly regular 
patrons of prostitutes, and some retired SAPS officers are 
said to own and/or manage large brothels in cities like 
Johannesburg.  Ramkishun explained how corrupt immigration 
officials canceled TIP victims' visas, so that police were 
accused of harboring illegal aliens, with the result that 
potential witnesses were deported at SAG expense. 
Traffickers, notably Chinese syndicates, were believed to 
wield great power within the police services.  The 
Immigration Liaison (SAIL) team at Johannesburg airport said 
traffickers had agents within immigration, airlines, and 
police.  Corruption dampened political will to launch 
undercover operations, and factions at the airport might work 
against one another rather than together. 
 
------------------------------------ 
Victims' Assistance: From GBV to TIP 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶10.  (U) South Africa's high prevalence of gender violence 
has over time generated broad expertise in victims' 
assistance, which is now being expanded and adapted to the 
specific needs of TIP victims.  Joan Groenwald of the DSD's 
Victim Empowerment unit explained that DSD had drafted 
guidelines for launch this month on care of victims of TIP 
and domestic violence by service providers, which include 105 
shelters registered by DSD of which all but nine are 
privately run.  (Note: the EC's McGovern said the UNODC had 
provided 20 million euros to Victim Empowerment, and that the 
NPA had received parallel funding from UNICEF.)  DSD had also 
submitted terms of reference to the NPA on victim 
rehabilitation strategies, but it lacked funding to implement 
such measures.  Most foreign victims were repatriated, with 
currently only one TIP victim remaining in the SAG's witness 
protection program. 
 
¶11.  (U) The G/TIP visitors met with three U.S.-funded 
organizations active in victims' assistance.  The first was 
Ikhaya Lethemba, a state-run USAID-funded center sheltering 
QIkhaya Lethemba, a state-run USAID-funded center sheltering 
all manner of women and children abuse victims, including TIP 
victims under Victim Empowerment directives still being 
drafted by local government.  Local NGO Khulisa explained 
that churches were the main haven for victims, although like 
Ikhaya Lethemba they were only newly learning to recognize 
signs of TIP.  Under a State/DRL grant, Khulisa formed a 
community collaborative in an inner-city neighborhood of 
Johannesburg, to encourage awareness and networking among 
service providers.  Its data base of local services is a 
model for a new DSD initiative to compile a National 
Directory of anti-TIP resources.  World Hope South Africa 
(WHSA), a recent G/TIP grantee, will soon undertake 
prevention training, awareness activities (such as roadshows 
and theater), and training in aftercare, where WHSA uses 
"life maps" and "memory books" as therapy tools to release 
trauma. 
 
------------------------- 
2010: Strategies Underway 
 
PRETORIA 00001551  004 OF 005 
 
 
------------------------- 
 
¶12.  (U) The 2010 FIFA World Cup is spawning a flurry of 
anti-TIP preparations, including an overall 2010 Strategy 
under the NPA's auspices.  Durban's Advocate Lotan described 
awareness campaigns that would include billboards, videos and 
films (including "Taken" and "Human Trafficking"), posters, 
and community workshops.  Local NGO and G/TIP grantee Molo 
Songololo's Patric Solomons said Cape Town would have child 
monitors in known hotspots like nightlife areas, taxi ranks, 
and bus stations.  He described a DSD-drafted 2010 Child 
Protection Framework which FIFA would be asked to endorse 
officially for SAG funding, since the SAG has yet to spend 
any money on 2010 anti-TIP activities.  Molo was lobbying the 
Department of Education to stagger school closures and to 
provide safe activities for idle kids.  The DSD's Gyan 
Dwerika described how this year's Confederations Cup had 
provided a trial run for next year's World Cup, with 
provinces drawing up action plans and mobilizing anti-TIP 
teams.  Guidelines were issued on how to identify children 
being recruited, and police were trained as spotters of 
suspicious activity.  Police presence was visible around game 
parks, complemented by on-site stewards and volunteers. 
 
--------------------------------- 
Forced Labor Remains a Blind Spot 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶13.  (SBU) In a week of meetings amply demonstrating South 
Africa's broad concern and commitment to combating TIP, the 
one stand-out exception was denial of the problem by labor 
authorities.  The Department of Labor (SADOL)'s Deputy 
Director General Les Kettledas cited the country's high rate 
of unionization as a deterrent to TIP in large-scale formal 
sectors such as mines or commercial farms.  The International 
Labor Organization (ILO)'s Regional Director Vic Van Vuuren 
added that exporters steered clear of illegal practices for 
fear of international boycotts.  Van Vuuren said a nearly 
unlimited supply of migrant workers came voluntarily, 
especially from Zimbabwe, and exploitation on farms was a 
greater issue than TIP.  (The Ambassador noted that even 
voluntary arrivals can fall prey to enslavement.)  When a 
subordinate pointed to past cases of domestic servitude, 
Kettledas countered that South Africa's 600,000 domestic 
workers were formally employed and heavily regulated, and 
that the (unimplemented) Children's Act outlawed child TIP. 
"We don't expect to find that phenomenon here," he said. 
"It's not like Zambia." 
 
¶14.  (SBU) Pressure may build on SADOL to confront the 
reality of forced labor.  The subordinate silenced by 
Kettledas later acknowledged to the Inter-sectoral Task Team 
that the informal labor sector was a "monitoring gap." 
Abuses were sometimes neglected on pretexts of cultural 
practices or intra-familial "chores."  (The Ambassador 
remarked that such excuses are common when prosecutors simply 
wish to drop a case, but they are easily rebutted.)  Molo's 
Solomons said there were "endless problems" getting labor 
inspectors to do their jobs, and forced child labor was 
rampant.  Labor officers are in acutely short supply, and IOM 
explained that inspectors' 18-question survey limited the 
scope of their probes.  Groups like Molo Songololo and IOM 
continue to discover and document cases of forced labor, 
Qcontinue to discover and document cases of forced labor, 
however, and the NPA's Majokweni conceded to us that labor 
TIP was under-investigated and underpublicized.  Van Vuuren 
has repeatedly urged the USG to fund an ILO program to boost 
South Africa's woeful labor inspectorate (ref C). 
 
--------------------------------- 
Time to Move From Plans to Action 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶15.  (SBU)  COMMENT: South Africa is at a turning point, 
where it must begin to translate planning into action.  As 
Ambassador CdeBaca commented, the time for meetings and plans 
is past; it is time to achieve observable outcomes such as 
victims rescued and criminals jailed.  After signing the 
Palermo Protocol on TIP in 2000, the country must urgently 
push through passage of the TIP Bill.  With no 
trafficking-related case resulting in a sentence for TIP 
offenders since mid-2006 (and prior to that in 1996), the NPA 
must press for convictions and meaningful sentences for the 
 
PRETORIA 00001551  005 OF 005 
 
 
16 traffickers apprehended and charged in the last year.  The 
law and punishment of traffickers are essential milestones 
for South Africa to remain off the G/TIP Watch List.  The 
Ambassador made very clear to the NPA's Majokweni that 
countries can fall back as well as advance in those rankings. 
 End Comment. 
CONNERS