Trafficked, Tortured and Forgotten: The modern enslavement of hundreds of South Africans
Opinion
23 South Africans who fell victim to human trafficking in Myanmar we reported to have arrived home. DIRCO through the South African Embassy in Thailand, with the support of other departments and agencies, managed the complex process. An operation by Thai, Chinese and Myanmar authorities led to the release of more than 7000 people from locked compounds in Myanmar where they were forced to trick and scam people worldwide.
Image: Supplied / Dirco
A MERE month ago, it was reported that more than 200 South Africans were currently stranded in Thailand, after having been lured into a sophisticated human trafficking ring with the false promise of employment in Myanmar.
This comes after 23 South Africans were rescued, following their initial trafficking back in March 2025.
They are among thousands from around the world caught in an intricate web of exploitation run by an international crime syndicate. This time, it is reportedly a Chinese Mafia network. Human trafficking is by far the largest plague in our modern society, and it is not alleviating one bit.
So far, over 20 South Africans have been rescued. But the rest remain in conditions that can only be described as modern-day slavery: working up to 16-hour days, subjected to violence, torture, and coercion.
This is a national emergency. Not just because of the scale of the crime or the brutality involved, but because of what it reveals about the vulnerability of South Africans in the global economy, and the systemic gaps that continue to fail them. The victims in this case were targeted for being exactly what South Africa claims to want from its youth: English-speaking, educated, tech-savvy, and entrepreneurial.
Like so many across the nation, these were people who, faced with a stagnating local economy and perversely high unemployment, sought better opportunities abroad. They responded to advertisements promising inflated salaries, accommodation, and paid travel expenses. Instead, they were human trafficked.
This crisis exposes a much deeper problem. Trafficking is not isolated to this case or to Southeast Asia. It is an expanding, highly organised industry that preys on the economic precarity of young people, particularly in the Global South. In South Africa, the high rates of youth unemployment and systemic underinvestment in both rural and urban working-class communities create ideal conditions for traffickers to operate.
And yet, despite the severity of what has happened, this story has received minimal mainstream media attention. That silence is both unethical and wholly unacceptable. The media plays a vital role in shaping public awareness and driving accountability. But when nearly 200 citizens are trafficked and the story receives less coverage than celebrity gossip or political theatre, it becomes clear that something has grown deeply wrong with our national priorities.
The lack of sustained, in-depth reporting on this story reflects a broader failure in how human interest and security issues are treated in South African media, especially when the victims are young, Black, and working class. This editorial gap is not just a journalistic failure; it is an ethical one. It reinforces the dangerous message that some lives matter less than others. That certain stories are not “marketable” enough to pursue. That violence against the poor is too common to be newsworthy, or “of importance” in our post-apartheid society.
This is also reinforcing a message that trafficking is taken lightly in our nation, and will not be addressed with the ferocity it deserves, thereby encouraging more international criminal syndicates to ravage our society, with no consequences in sight.
What’s at stake here is not just the well-being of over 200 South Africans, but the very integrity of our democracy. Because trafficking doesn’t only harm individuals. It destabilises families, erodes communities, and normalises impunity. It undermines the very constitutional principles we claim to uphold — dignity, safety, and the right to freedom.
According to the Tears Foundation, South Africa is a source, transit, and destination country for human trafficking syndicates. The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) also reported that over 250 000 South Africans were trafficking victims in 2023 alone, and many of these cases remain unreported. In fact, an estimated 155 000 South Africans are living in modern slavery — with the majority of victims being women and children, and a large portion being trafficked for sexual exploitation.
The urgency of this moment requires coordinated action. Firstly, all remaining South Africans trapped in Thailand and neighbouring countries must be brought home immediately. There can be no excuse for delay or diplomatic red tape, especially in cases as critical as this.
Secondly, we need a serious national security overhaul that addresses how trafficking operates in and throughout South Africa. This includes stricter regulation of online job adverts, public education campaigns around recruitment scams, better border control cooperation, and dedicated anti-trafficking units that are properly resourced.
Thirdly, our media institutions must be held accountable. Editorial boards need to re-evaluate what role they play in holding both government and criminal networks to account. Reporting on human rights violations is not optional. It is essential to a functioning democracy. The failure to do this must be condemned and viewed as blatant impunity.
The trafficking of South African citizens is not a distant or foreign issue. It is rooted in our own inequalities, our own governance failures, and our own media silences. It demands more than sympathy. It requires decisive action, transparency, and commitment from every sector of our society.
Ultimately, bringing our people home is non-negotiable. Preventing this from happening again is our duty. It is critical that we implement measures that will ensure such crime is stifled in our society and that such tragedies never happen again.
As the Father of the Nation, Former President Nelson Mandela once astutely said, “Let us all take responsibility for freeing our communities of crime and violence. Let us not rob ourselves of the freedom which we have so recently won by allowing these evils to continue.”
* Tswelopele Makoe is a gender and social justice activist and editor at Global South Media Network. She is a researcher, columnist, and an Andrew W Mellon scholar at the Desmond Tutu Centre for Religion and Social Justice, UWC. The views expressed are her own.
** The views expressed here do not reflect those of the Sunday Independent, IOL, or Independent Media.