Rape complaints expose hidden trafficking cases

Victims of sex or labour trafficking often do not realise they have been trafficked or are unwilling to acknowledge it, with many cases initially reported as rape before police investigations reveal the full picture.

Erongo recorded 13 trafficking in persons cases between 2010 and 2024, with most first reported to police as rape complaints before investigators identified possible trafficking links.

Police detective Chief Inspector Judith Shomongula of the Crime Investigation Division shared the figures during the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons commemoration at Henties Bay on Wednesday, in a statement delivered on behalf of Erongo regional commander Commissioner Nikolaus Kupembona.

"Most of these matters were initially reported as rape because the complainant would never come and say I was trafficked," she said.

The cases involved sexual exploitation, labour exploitation and contraventions of the Immigration Control Act.

Six of the suspected traffickers were foreign nationals who were charged alongside Namibian co-accused, with most of the suspects being men. Three of the 13 cases involved four Namibian women who were allegedly used as recruiters.

Most of the cases have been finalised, with 11 offenders convicted and sentenced to prison terms ranging from 15 to 35 years.

Shomongula said no new trafficking cases had been reported in Erongo since January 2025, which she attributed to increased vigilance and prevention efforts. She cautioned, however, that trafficking cases are notoriously difficult to identify.

“While these achievements are encouraging, trafficking in persons remains a hidden and underreported crime,” she said.

‘Chains and shackles’

The regional picture was presented alongside national figures during the event by Erongo Regional Council chairperson Lazarus Kanelombe.

Namibia recorded 10 new trafficking cases between March 2025 and April 2026, up from six during the previous reporting period.

The 2026 cases involve three Namibian women and two Namibian men, aged 23 and 31, trafficked from Namibia to Myanmar. The remaining victims are children and young adults trafficked into Namibia: a 13-year-old Zambian girl, a 14-year-old Angolan boy, and three Angolan girls aged 12, 16 and 21.

Officials said traffickers increasingly use fake job advertisements, false scholarship offers and dating applications to lure victims to take part in large-scale scamming operations. They warned that recruiters are often known to those they target.

"These scammers may operate even when they personally know the victim as relatives, as friends, or as acquaintances," it said.

Arandis constituency councillor and member of parliament Abiud Kapere said: "Today's chains and shackles have been replaced by fake jobs, advertisement, false scholarship and digital deceit.”

In a statement read on behalf of Acting Inspector General Anne-Marie Nainda, police said 16 Namibians had been repatriated from Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia.

The statement said police dismantled an international online fraud network in 2023 after unemployed Namibian youth were recruited as internet promoters and subjected to salary deductions, restricted movement and non-disclosure agreements.