Human trafficking victims escape

Tumelo Mouwane | Wednesday March 22, 2017 15:13

Speaking during a full council meeting, the deputy town mayor Francis Mokwena said the victims that were held at an undisclosed place of safety pending prosecution of their cases are Malawians. 

“In the recent months, we have hosted around 14 victims of suspected human trafficking at one of our facilities in Lobatse.

I have been reliably informed that out of the total 14 victims placed with us, seven have since escaped where they were housed. 

“The relevant stakeholders in this matter are nonetheless working around the clock to ensure that the suspects are prosecuted and the victims are returned to Malawi,” he said.

District No. 4 officer commanding, Alakanani Makobo said they are on the trail of the said victims. He said even though the victims escaped, they cannot be treated as suspects.

“It is true that we have situation of that kind. Four suspects were arrested on September 16, 2016 and charged with human trafficking. A total of 14 victims were hosted at a safety facility and seven have escaped. We are still tracing the whereabouts of the said victims who have decided to abscond before giving evidence before the courts.

“Their case has been recently committed to the High Court and even though we are looking for them, we cannot treat them as suspects because these people are not hosted in the said places of safety. But as one may know, anyone in a foreign country will at some point want to go home,” Makobo said. 

Meanwhile, Mokwena said schools in Lobatse are working around the clock to cover for time which was lost during the Nnywane Bridge collapse.

The deputy mayor said at least 189 students missed classes for two weeks at the time. “Lobatse schools attendance was seriously affected to the extent that about 189 students did not attend lessons well for the two weeks due to the collapse of the Nnywane Bridge.

To cover for the lost time, schools came up with a plan which included activities such as extra lessons and increased assignments,” he said.

The floods affected at least 45 homesteads consisting of 86 people.

Ten compounds were flooded though the water did not enter the houses whereas 26 houses were flooded and most of the households items were soaked in water.