“I noticed two frail boys seated beside a private security vehicle, wearing only their underwear”
Source: Daily Maverick
How I stumbled across a suspected human trafficking operation in a Johannesburg suburb
When I noticed two barefoot boys seated beside a private security vehicle, wearing only their underwear, I stopped to ask what was happening.
Suspected human trafficking victims sit on a pavement in Mulbarton in the south of Johannesburg on Monday night before being assisted by police and private security. (Photo: Aneesa Adams)
On the evening of Monday, 5 January, while my friends and I were driving to a garage in the Johannesburg suburb of Mulbarton, I noticed two frail boys seated beside a private security vehicle, wearing only their underwear. When we stopped to ask what was happening, security officers told us the boys had been robbed.
Shortly afterwards, after leaving the garage, on another street, we encountered three more boys in the same condition, again accompanied by private security officers. This time, a security officer said it was suspected that they had been kidnapped.
None of the boys could speak English. My friends and I realised they could be Ethiopian, and we used an app to translate from Amharic to English. We learned that one of them had a passport; the other spoke of his family having wealth to save him.
/file/attachments/orphans/WhatsAppImage2026-01-06at165350_904833.jpg "When the boys got up to walk to the van, they could hardly stand, as their feet were injured, probably from running barefoot. (Photo: Aneesa Adams)")
We told the security officers that we had seen two similar victims moments earlier.
While waiting for more responders, we fetched blankets, food and water for the three boys, who all appeared malnourished and traumatised. Members of the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department’s (JMPD’s) Tactical Response Unit (TRU) and the SA Police Service arrived. They wanted to take the three boys to a nearby police station.
When the boys got up to walk to the van, they could hardly stand, as their feet were injured, probably from running barefoot. The TRU members then waited for the other two boys to be fetched. They said the boys might have been locked up in a basement in a house in the area, and after managing to escape, ran for their lives.
Later, the TRU confirmed that the boys were foreign nationals believed to be victims of a human trafficking operation.
With assistance from Fox Security, GTS Security and the Mondeor Community Policing Forum (CPF), authorities ultimately rescued 10 victims and arrested a suspect on charges of kidnapping and human trafficking. The case was registered with the Mondeor police.
Deeply unsettling
A Mulbarton resident, who wished to remain anonymous, said the incident was deeply unsettling.
“It is shocking to learn that this kind of thing is happening right under our noses. The quick reaction from the CPF and our security companies is comforting,” said the resident.
On Tuesday, the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) said investigations led to the arrest of a 47-year-old foreign national in the Johannesburg CBD and the rescue of 10 teenage boys.
“It is reported that whilst on patrol duties, the JMPD members were alerted to a bizarre scenario unfolding alongside Broad Street, in Mulbarton. They were alerted to a group of eight half-naked teenagers walking on foot. Upon further inquiries, the officers established that the teenagers were foreign nationals who could not speak English,” said Colonel Katlego Mogale.
“The officers were also informed that there were two more boys who had already been taken away in a blue VW Jetta. The vehicle was later intercepted along the street, but the driver fled, resulting in a high-speed chase which ended in Commissioner Street with the subsequent arrest of the suspect and the rescue of the two half-naked teenagers.”
The suspect is expected to appear in the Booysens Magistrates’ Court on Thursday on charges of being an illegal immigrant and suspected trafficking in persons.
Similar incidents have been reported in the last year. In January 2025, police rescued 26 Ethiopians being held naked in Sandringham after neighbours heard them trying to escape. In May, 44 Ethiopians, believed to have been held against their will, were rescued from a Parkmore house.
On Monday, we left the scene just after midnight. The night served as a stark reminder that serious crimes can unfold in plain sight, even in neighbourhoods we consider safe. DM
Aneesa Adams is Daily Maverick’s Johannesburg Community Engagement Editor.
Dennis BaileyJan 7, 2026, 07:28 AM
This is obviously a developing story but may I encourage you to pursue it. Having witnessed human trafficking all over Africa I know it as a massively underreported scourge and those that profit from it live rent holding houses in our suburbs. The real profiteers are higher in the food chain, of course, as always, politicians and police generals and the like…
Martin Plaut 