Following the disappearance of Joslin Smith, 6, from her home in Saldanha Bay at the beginning of 2024, fears have mounted as child trafficking is alleged to be the reason behind her disappearance.
Smith is one of the many South African children that has gone missing without a trace. According to the latest figures released by the South African Police Service (SAPS) Missing Persons Bureau for 2013, every five hours a child is declared missing. No recent statistics have been released by SAPS since then.
Missing Children South Africa’s statistic indicated 77% of children are found. However, that still leaves at least 23% of the children either never being located, trafficked or found deceased.
Human-trafficking expert and University of the Free State researcher Monique Emser said there seems to be a market for child trafficking in SA.
“There are several factors that lead to a child being trafficked. In many cases when a child goes missing, a family member or someone known to the child is behind the child’s disappearance. We must acknowledge that in many cases, females are responsible for trafficking a child and several factors such as social ills, poverty, and mental illness is the main drivers behind leading someone to trafficking a child or any person for that matter,” she explained.
Emser said there are several child trafficking cases that go unnoticed, which makes creating awareness around the issue challenging.
Speaking to VOC News, residents shared their views on child trafficking.
“We are living in such a cruel world with so many sick people, I cannot understand how people think selling a child off to someone is okay.”
“The sad reality is that child trafficking exists in SA, but we cannot do anything about it because of corruption and the fear of being subjected to whatever consequences that come with ratting out these criminalities.”
Listen to full interview below:
