31 March 2008
Maputo — The main suspect in the case of trafficking of three Mozambican children, who were used as sex slaves in South Africa for two months, and one of whom has subsequently disappeared, is soon to appear before a South African court.
Believed to be a Mozambican national, the woman, name only as Diana, has been under police custody at Garfontein, a neighbourhood of Pretoria, for the last two weeks.
The case of these children, aged between 14 and 16 was first reported by Mozambican Television (TVM) after two of them were rescued from a Pretoria brothel by a Mozambican lawyer living in South Africa. The lawyer, Inacio Mussanhane, said he refused a bribe of two million rands (about 240,000 US dollars) to buy his silence.
The victims told reporters that, besides rape, they were also subject to tortures and to other forms of abuse by the "clients", who learnt of the brothel through internet advertisements.
The mother of one of the girls, interviewed by TVM, said that to be able to cope with the ten or so "clients" they had to service every day, the girls would be injected with heavy drugs, including cocaine.
Following the TVM report, a team from the Mozambican Criminal Investigation Police (PIC) and of the Attorney General's Office travelled to South Africa to try and secure the extradition of the accused, but the South African authorities want her to be tried there, because most of the offences of which she is accused were committed in that country.
Mozambican media reported that, after serving any term to which she may eventually be sentenced in South Africa, Diana will be deported to Mozambique, where she will answer further charges, including falsification of identity documents and kidnapping.
The Southern African Network Against Abuse and Trafficking on Children (SANTAC) issued a press release last week attacking the "repugnant impunity" with which cases of sexual abuse have normally been treated. SANTAC is calling for a specific legal framework, both in Mozambique and in South Africa, against trafficking in human beings.
The organization also made a special call against trafficking in human beings, particularly women and children, in the light of the forthcoming football world cup, to take place in South Africa in 2010.
Sam/bm/pf (389)
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