VZCZCXRO6033
PP RUEHDU RUEHJO
DE RUEHSA #2229/01 3061029
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 021029Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY PRETORIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0067
INFO RUEHTO/AMEMBASSY MAPUTO 6155
RUEHTN/AMCONSUL CAPE TOWN 7287
RUEHDU/AMCONSUL DURBAN 1366
RUEHJO/AMCONSUL JOHANNESBURG 9647

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PRETORIA 002229 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KTIP SF
SUBJECT: ANTI-TRAFFICKING EFFORTS NEAR THE S.A.-MOZAMBIQUE 
BORDER 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1.  On an October 21-23 field visit to rural farming areas 
bordering Mozambique, emboffs investigated rights and labor 
concerns including trafficking in persons (TIP).  The view 
from NGOs in the provincial capital was that law enforcement 
was not taking sex-related TIP seriously; and that labor TIP 
on farms, while believed to be limited, would likely go 
undetected by officials.  Closer to the border, however, 
communities were more mobilized, and a recent TIP case had 
been tackled in a textbook example of public-private 
collaboration.  Driven by the dedication of committed local 
individuals, NGOs, and churches, such pockets of grass-roots 
progress are popping up around South Africa.  End Summary. 
 
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PESSIMISM ON TIP AT PROVINCIAL LEVEL 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶2.  Emboffs' visit to rural Mpumalanga began in the 
provincial capital Nelspruit, where sources felt law 
enforcement officials were not taking TIP terribly seriously. 
 At The Rural Action Committee (TRAC-MP), Mpumalanga's 
leading rural advocacy NGO, Human Rights Officer Elizabeth 
'Maki' Molefe said trafficking from neighboring Mozambique 
was mostly for commercial sexual exploitation, and typical 
police response was to arrest and deport victims.  Although 
wage violations were common on farms, Molefe said most abuses 
could not be characterized as TIP (or even forced labor), 
since migrants (perhaps half the labor force) worked 
voluntarily until they were denied benefits. 
 
¶3.  Labor inspectors were also seen as less than assiduous. 
Molefe bemoaned a general lack of government oversight of 
farms by SAG officials who preferred to remain in their 
comfortable offices in town.  As a result, while TRAC 
believed incidence of labor TIP was low, it also felt the SAG 
would be unlikely to detect any cases that might occur.  In 
the farmworkers' village of Nkomazi, Daphne Nkozi of the 
Community Legal Advice Office went further, alleging that 
labor inspectors were routinely bribed by farm owners with 
boxes of produce discreetly deposited in the trunks of their 
cars.  (NOTE: Although we heard no accounts of labor 
trafficking, the Department of Labor (SADOL) seems to be 
touchy on the subject: when Pretoria headquarters learned of 
our appointment with the local SADOL director, it canceled 
the meeting with orders that only HQ could answer TIP 
queries.  End Note.) 
 
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LOCALIZED EFFORTS TO RESCUE VICTIMS 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  Armed with these dim views, we were later gratified by 
more positive reports of localized anti-TIP action.  In the 
Tonga village of Nkomazi East, just 15 miles from the border, 
where Portuguese is a lingua franca and polling stations were 
set up for Mozambican elections, we learned of a TIP case 
earlier in the week which had elicited model responses from 
public and private actors.  Rachel Nkosi of the Masisukumeni 
Women's Crisis Centre described how a 17-year-old Mozambican 
girl had fallen prey to a taxi scam, in which she was charged 
an exorbitant fare at the border post and then sold to a 
local man for 500 rand ($65) who forced her to pay her "debt" 
through prostitution.  When she became ill and was taken to a 
clinic, a vigilant nurse alerted the police and the Centre, 
who brought in social workers.  Police not only tended to the 
girl at the station's victim support facility -- collecting 
forensic evidence and providing counseling -- but they also 
Qforensic evidence and providing counseling -- but they also 
arrested the perpetrator. 
 
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VICTIMS' SUPPORT, AWARENESS RAISING 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  Traumatized but now safe, the Mozambican girl was staying 
at the Amazing Grace shelter in Malelane, which assists an 
array of victims from street children and orphans to victims 
of domestic abuse.  Personnel Desmond and Given (LNU) 
described trafficking as an "organized crime" in the area, 
perpetrated by established criminal networks and with border 
officials on the take for bribes.  Taxi scams from the border 
were common, in which migrants were either assessed with 
excessive fares which they were then forced to work off, or 
more often they were just dumped by the side of the road 
before reaching their destination of Johannesburg.  Children 
of migrants were especially vulnerable during illegal border 
 
PRETORIA 00002229  002 OF 002 
 
 
crossings, when they could be separated from their parents 
while hopping the electrified fence.  Children, both South 
African and foreign, were trafficked as child minders in 
private households, with rescue dependent on tip-offs from 
neighbors. 
 
¶6.  Amazing Grace had forged a working partnership with 
police and government social workers to combat the problem. 
The shelter had also signed a formal agreement with police at 
the Komatipoort border post, who now proactively referred 
victims for assistance and were "serious" on the matter of 
TIP.  Amazing Grace would be joining forces with the SAG's 
Department for Social Development, provincial premier's 
office, and police to organize awareness-raising events 
during South Africa's annual December "16 Days of Awareness" 
campaign to combat violence against women and children.  The 
shelter also worked closely with local leaders from the 
Catholic Church and South African Council of Churches (SACC), 
who in turn had participated in TIP awareness workshops led 
by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).  NGOs 
had also organized a regional anti-TIP consortium -- called 
MPLIMO to cover Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces, and 
Mozambique border areas. 
 
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LOCAL HEROES, TURNING A TIDE 
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¶7.  COMMENT: This patchwork pattern of action to combat TIP 
in Mpumalanga is representative of impressions from around 
South Africa.  Broadly, the TIP issue receives uneven 
attention from government and police, in the absence of 
(pending) comprehensive legislation on TIP.  Locally, 
however, there are pockets of progress, typically driven by 
passionate individuals (like Maki and Rachel) and standout 
NGOs (like Amazing Grace and their fellow MPLIMO members) who 
take initiative to mobilize more sluggish partners.  At 
Amazing Grace, a "picketing" effort outside indifferent 
government offices led to formal memoranda and finally to 
firm partnership.  While national bureaucrats chug along to 
draft laws and protocols, the grass roots are where the 
action is.  End Comment. 
GIPS