The dark reality of human trafficking in Cape Town's suburbs

A report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) reveals that human trafficking has expanded from Cape Town's city center to suburban neighborhoods such as Rugby, Brooklyn, Tijgerhof, Lansdowne, and Wynberg. This expansion is driven by an alliance between local gangs, transnational syndicates, and complicit landlords. The suburban trade is described as modern-day slavery, involving extreme exploitation, forced drug dependency, and inhumane conditions. The roots of this phenomenon trace back to the Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020, when street-level drug operations were disrupted by police and military patrols.