Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane MKP Mpumalanga chairperson
By Adv Busisiwe Mkhwebane
MKP Mpumalanga Chairperson
The Umkhonto weSizwe Mpumalanga Provincial Detachment is deeply alarmed and outraged by the kidnapping and continued detention of seventeen (17) South African citizens in Thailand, these citizens were lured with false promises of lucrative IT and other employment opportunities, only to be trafficked, held against their will, and subjected to heinous and inhumane prison conditions in that country.
These are sons and daughters of South Africa who, out of desperation to provide for their families, fell
victim to sophisticated international human-trafficking and scam syndicates, their plight is a direct consequence of the deliberately weakened South African economy and the catastrophic levels of
unemployment that continue to push our youth and breadwinners into the hands of criminals, we call on the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ronald Lamola, and the entire department to treat this matter with the utmost urgency and to immediately deploy all diplomatic, consular and legal resources necessary to secure the safe and swift repatriation of these seventeen citizens, their lives and dignity are at stake, and any further delay is unacceptable.
We fully support and associate ourselves with the urgent call made by the BM Foundation, which has credible evidence, precise locations, and detailed information regarding these criminal operations, we urge the South African government to work closely with the Foundation and to provide it with the
necessary support to bring our people home.
Furthermore, we call on the entire South African government to finally confront the root cause of this tragedy: mass unemployment and economic despair, until meaningful, large-scale job-creation
programmes are implemented, our youth will remain vulnerable to human traffickers, scam syndicates and other criminal networks that prey on desperation, we also demand that the Department of Home Affairs, the South African Police Service and the State Security Agency urgently investigate and
dismantle the local networks and criminal syndicates that recruit, facilitate and profit from the trafficking of South Africans.
These syndicates operate with impunity inside our country and directly threaten the future and stability of the Republic.
The Umkhonto weSizwe Mpumalanga Provincial Detachment will not remain silent while South Africans are sold into modern-day slavery.
We stand in full solidarity with the affected families and will continue to
monitor and demand action until every single citizen is brought home safely.
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