London, Sep. 24, 2020 (AltAfrica)-Human trafficking is rife in South Africa, if recent press reports are to be believed, and children are at particularly high risk of being traded and prostituted.

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Now, the National Police Commissioner, Khehla Sitole says the rise in child kidnappings in the country has prompted police management to engage all Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries and international Police Organisation (Interpol) to fight and highlight the seriousness of the crime

Briefing the media in Pretoria on alert Level 1 lockdown regulations, Sithole said they were working with an integrated trans-national crime prevention network.

“At transnational level, we have got transnational organised crime operations that we share with the neighbouring countries – the SADC countries. But it is also a crime that we are looking at Interpol level. These are integrated and multi-disciplinary investigations. We are also working on transnational crime prevention framework,” explains Sitole.

At least more than one person is trafficked in South Africa per month.

This emerged during a Social Development Trafficking in Person’s Indaba last year in Mpumalanga.

The number is inclusive of children and adults lured into the country under false pretences

According to available date, at least 30,000 children are trafficked and prostituted annually in South Africa and 50 per cent of them are under the age of 14

South Africa is a signatory to the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children. (SABC)