An analysis of the causes and contributing factors to human trafficking: A South African perspective

Abstract Trafficking in human beings, especially women and girls, is not new. Historically, it has taken many forms, but in the context of globalization, has acquired shocking new dimensions. It is a complex, multi-faceted phenomenon involving multiple stakeholders at the institutional and commercial level. This article attempts to explore and analysis the causes and contributing factors to human trafficking. This research was carried out utilising a qualitative approach. Forty interviews were carried out among officials deployed in the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), the South African Police Service (SAPS), the Department of Home Affairs (DHA), the Department of Social Development (DSD), the Gauteng Provincial Office, as well as with the victims regarding their views and experiences on the stakeholder’s involved in combating and investigating human trafficking. The interviews were analysed according to the phenomenographic approach to identify the participants’ responses. The reason for this choice was to identify key or knowledgeable participants about human trafficking in three selected areas of Gauteng Province. The key findings indicated that the growing demand for foreign workers for domestic and care-giving roles, and lack of adequate corresponding regulations contribute immensely on human trafficking. The findings further indicated that lack of legitimate and fulfilling employment opportunities, particularly in rural communities contribute to human trafficking. The findings further indicated that demand for women’s sexual services and the growth of the billion-rand sex entertainment industry contribute to human trafficking. Based on the findings, the authors provided with the recommendations such as: improved awareness in social media platforms, multi-disciplinary unit dealing with human trafficking within the DPCI, and tougher laws and legislations on prostitution, women’s sexual services and sex entertainment industry.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Dr Motseki Morero is working at Department of Safety and Security at the Tshwane University of Technology; and Prof Mofokeng Jacob is the Head of Department in the Department of Safety and Security at Tshwane University of Technology. Both authors have worked collaboratively to ensure the success of this paper. Both authors have individually and critically worked on, evaluated the quality of the manuscript, and agreed to send it for publication. Dr Motseki designed the study and led the data collection, analysis as the manuscript is from his PhD thesis. Prof Mofokeng Jacob did a critical review of the manuscript before submission for publication consideration. Formatting, proofreading, as well as the technical presentation of the manuscript in compliance with author guidelines was put right by both authors, and in addition, editing and typesetting of the final draft was also done by both authors. The authors have read and agreed to this manuscript.

PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT
The authors firmly have confidence in advancing the prevention and awareness of human trafficking within communities. This empathy has brought the predicament of human trafficking to the authors' consideration. This study will increase the value of society as it will set up novel thoughts concerning better and more viable techniques to react to human trafficking with Gauteng Province as well as the entire South Africa. This in turn will promote more effective policing and investigative strategies as the public will be able to provide detailed information to the relevant stakeholders. This will be crucial for the general livelihoods of victims of human trafficking, as they will live in a safer and more secure environment where human trafficking, and will be prevented.

Introduction
South Africa in 2013 enacted the Prevention and Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act, No7 of 2013 and came into effect in August 2015. According to Trafficking in persons (TIP) is a public security concern, affecting citizens of southern African as well as globally (Motseki, 2018, p. 66). The crime of trafficking in persons (TIP) is considered a serious public security concern in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region (Strategic Plan of Action [SPA], 2017, p. 5). To respond to this crime in southern Africa, Member States of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) developed the 10 Year Strategic Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons, especially women and children (2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014)(2015)(2016)(2017)(2018)(2019), which serves as a blueprint for regional and national responses to TIP. Human trafficking or modernday slavery was described by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) as a transnational enterprise controlled by organized crime, which enslaved 12.3 million people, generated billions in profit for human traffickers, and was the third most profitable business for organised crime and posed a serious threat to national and global security (Keo et al.,,p. 203). Human trafficking is a complex phenomenon fueled by the tremendous growth in the global sex market, with that said research asserts that the factors contributing to human trafficking in women and children are varied and complex, differing from country to country. In order to establish what factors, make women and children vulnerable to human trafficking, it is necessary not only to consider global and regional social and economic changes but also to conduct a local-level analysis of country conditions in source countries for human trafficking (Keo et al.,,p. 205).

Objectives and research question
The objectives of this research were: (1) to determine the contributing factors to human trafficking, (2) to analysis the causes of human trafficking, (3) to determine the impediments that hinders the criminal justice system (CJS) to successfully investigate, combat and prosecute human trafficking, (4) from the findings, to recommend the strategies that the CJS can utilise to investigate, combat and prosecute human trafficking in South Africa. (Table 1) The research questions for this research were: (1) what the contributing factors to human trafficking are, (2) what are causes of human trafficking, (3) what are the impediments that hinders the CJS to successfully investigate, combat and prosecute human trafficking.

Theoretical frameworks
De Vos et al. (2011, p. 37) defines theory as a set of interrelated hypothesis, concepts, constructs, definitions and propositions that present a systematic view of phenomena based on facts and observations, with the purpose of explaining and predicting the phenomena. Tibbetts (2012, p. 2), concur that theory can be defined as a set of concepts linked together by a series of statements to explain why an event or phenomenon occurs.
The theoretical framework underpinning this study is rational choice theory. Theorists, who support the rational choice perspective, speak in terms of "opportunity", "benefits" and "costs" when discussing the offender's decision to commit a crime (Motseki, 2018, p. 69). Van Der Westhuizen (1998, p. 122), states that a human being consider certain options, pros and cons, and then chooses-in a rational way-the action which holds the maximum benefit. The individual considers, in this way, only the consequences his/her actions will have for him/her and does not necessarily think how these actions will affect other people. Cornish and Clarke (2014: vi), state that if crimes are the result of rational choices, based on the anticipated cost and benefits, criminal behaviour becomes more crime-specific. They argue that more attention should be paid to the criminal event itself as well as the background or historical and situational factors that influence its commission. This supposes that the decision-making process can be affected by various factors of which situational factors (poverty, unemployment, poor economies and social circumstances) are the most important part of the process in deciding to commit crime.
All things considered, it extremely evident that perpetrating wrongdoing depends on the discerning decision of the person. There are causes and contributing factors that lead to women and children to be casualties of human trafficking. It is the perspective on the researchers that it is a decision of human traffickers to draw the powerless individuals to human trafficking and it is likewise the decision to a specific degree that people become casualties of human trafficking. Factors, for example, neediness, joblessness, poor economies, political hazards, and absence of chances make women and children to be helpless against human trafficking.

The root causes of human trafficking in South Africa
Trafficking in women and children is often seen as a development problem from the supply side. It is argued that young women and children are forced or pressured into the sex and domestic service industries by poverty and lack of alternative employment and income earning opportunities. According to Davis and Snyman (2005, p. 283), they explained that the root causes and reasons for the trafficking in humans are varied, and all of them have the vulnerability of the potential victims for exploitation as a common core. There is clearly not one single cause for human trafficking and various factors work in concert contributing to a climate conducive to human trafficking. The following factors are identified as causes of human trafficking: • Poverty and inequity.
• Gender discrimination within the family and the larger community.
• Tolerance of violence against women and children.
• Lack of appropriate legislation and political will to address human trafficking.
• The globalisation of the sex industry, and • The involvement of transnational organised crime networks (Davis & Snyman, 2005, p. 283).
According to Langa (2014) divides the factors contributing to trafficking into primary causes (such as poverty, family breakdown, gender discrimination, culture, HIV/AIDS, war, natural disasters, political instability and a demand by the sex industry) and secondary causes (such as weak laws, corruption and immigration). The root causes of women trafficking can also be viewed as social, cultural and economic causes and in this sense it is difficult to underline a specific cause. However, this study indicates that trafficking in women is the result of a combination of multiple factors, for example, an increasing level of household poverty, unemployment, and domestic violence, infidelity, abandoned by their husband, family disintegration, and ethnic conflict.

Methodology
For this study, a qualitative research approach was used to properly research the phenomena, challenges and effective responses to human trafficking. The research design was exploratory, which allows the researcher to listen to and understand the participants regarding their ideals and personal experience (Creswell, 2014, p. 30). Qualitative research provides people with a means of attempting to understand a world that cannot be understood in terms of numbers and objectivity. Qualitative approaches provide ways of transcribing and analysing the discursive construction of everyday events and of exploring the historical nature of life within a social group or local setting (De Vos et al., 2011, p. 108).

Study population
The population of this study consists of officials from Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation unit which deals with human trafficking, four officials were interviewed and their ranks were Lieutenant Colonel, Warrant Officer, and Captain, all of them were males in terms of gender, and three of them had between 24 and 34 years of experience. In terms of the South African Police Services, 24 officers in total were interviewed from three selected areas of Gauteng Province, namely Pretoria, Springs and Kempton park, the ranks were Constable, Sergeant, Warrant officers, Lieutenant, and Captain, in terms of the gender, it was 8 females and 16 males and their experience were between 10 years to 27 years. In terms of the Department of Social Development, two officials were interviewed from a head office in Pretoria, they were both males, holding the position of Deputy Director: Coordinator of the prevention combating of the trafficking in persons and Director: social crime prevention, and one female from Gauteng provincial office, their position was Social Work Policy Developer (Trafficking in Persons Coordinator).
In terms of the Department of Home Affairs, five officials were interviewed, three of the officials were females and two were males, three were holding positions of assistant directors: analysis, one was the assistant director: immigration service and assistant director: tracing and monitoring, four of them had between 2 and 3 years of experience and only one had 28 years of experience. 4 survivors of human trafficking were also part of the study and were trafficked between 2 and 8 years from different parts of South Africa and other countries.

Sampling procedures
The selection of participants of this study was conducted using two sampling methods: Purposive sampling and Snowball sampling. Purposive sampling allowed for maximum variation, which was looking for participants who had different ideas concerning the topic and a broad range of experience from each other. This was used to pick participants from the SAPS, DPCI, DSD, and DHA, as these participants are knowledgeable about human trafficking in Gauteng Province. Snowball sampling, is a type of sampling where the researcher gets help from one participant to another. The choice of the participant is guided by the aims and objectives of the study. This method was used to select members of the community who have been victims of human trafficking to ensure that the participants are aware of the phenomenon to be studied. Unfortunately, most of the survivors of human trafficking did not feel safe to participate in the study due to security reasons, fear of victimization, and shame, only one survivor was interviewed.

Data collection techniques
The researcher used the interviews to collect data. The interviews are gathered from more than one person because the goal is to identify differences and similarities across participants in a sample. In-depth interviews were used by the researcher, and the reason being that in-depth interviews are conducted with unique individuals or a small number of people (Creswell, 2014, p. 15). The advantages of the interviews are: Firstly, considerable input from each participant and an independent view is obtained on a situation. Secondly, participants can discuss intimate and confidential issues without fear, and no peer group pressure creates bias. Additionally, allows a rapport to build between participants and interviewer and can accommodate widely scattered participants. Thirdly, better for heterogeneous participants who may not gel in a group and allows the interviewer to see the surrounding home or office of the respondent. The study used a semi-structured interview schedule as it allowed the researcher to use the pre-planned schedule, and it allowed for elaborate discussions between the participants and the researcher. The interviews where in-depth and done on a one on one this was done to illicit detailed information. The interviews took place at locations that were chosen by the participants and the duration ranged from 20 to 40 minutes, this was dependent on how much information the participants were willing to share.

Data analysis
Thematic analysis is a method for identifying, analysing, and reporting patterns (themes) within data as it organises and describes data in detail (Braun & Clarke, 2006). At the heart of thematic analysis, the familiarisation of data by the researcher is important. Data familiarisation was possible because the researchers personally conducted audio-recorded interviews and transcribed them. This process allowed the researchers to familiarise themselves with the data for expedited and insightful analysis.
Following this thematic transcription, the scripts were analysed using NVivo version 8 software. This software organised the raw data so that it was possible to link and compare thematic issues within and across documents. The list of "starter nodes" was generated from an initial entry in a project journal in the software where the questions and assumptions brought to the report were outlined. The software gave results that allowed for a deeper examination and management of the qualitative data that might not be possible in traditional coding.
Two distinct types of coding were used in the analysis. The first was descriptive coding, which described the cases in this study. This process is related both to the coding of information in categories and the creation of attributes to clarify them. The second type was analytical coding, which was done by selecting source content to interpret and reflect on the meaning of the data to arrive at new ideas and categories. The process entailed gathering material that could be rethought and reviewed given the growing understanding of the inter-relationship of the categories in the data.

Ethical clearance
The research received ethical clearance from Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), and permission to conduct interviews was granted by the following organisations: The SAPS, DPCI, DSD, DHA, and NPA.

Theme 1: Barriers that hinders the relevant stakeholders to successfully combat human trafficking cases
When asked what were barriers hindered the relevant stakeholders to successfully and effectively combat human trafficking, the majority of participants concurred that there were number of challenges confronted by stakeholders to respond adequately to human trafficking cases. Participants highlighted that stakeholders were generally uninformed about the problem of human trafficking, have limited experiences investigating such cases and lack organisational tools such as but not limited to; lack of dedicated human resources to handle TIP cases, interpretation of relevant legislation to guide their identification and investigations. Some said Victims status affect the whole investigation, if the victim is subjected to threats or intimidation. Lack of cooperation from victims, corruption is also a problem, language barrier from the victims who are from outside South Africa, delays in the court proceedings, courts are taking long to deal with cases of human trafficking, no specialized courts in South Africa dealing with cases of human trafficking (FGDs-12:16:1).
Victims at the shelters do have cellphones so as a result they contact the traffickers. Victims escape from shelters. Corruption in the case of home affairs is a problem. Police officers are friends with traffickers, they tip traffickers about the operation of the police. Immigration officers should undergo security clearance and vetting when they are being employed (FGDs-03:46:3).
The problem is the resources on our part, we don't have that can enable us to respond effectively to human trafficking. I will also say we still lack intensive training on issues of human trafficking. We can't different between victims of human trafficking and those working as sex workers on the night clubs, brothels so we need an intensive training on that. Lack of cooperation and support from other stakeholders. Another challenge is the budget, for any program or imbizo, a proper budget has to be prioritized for the event (FGDs-02:17:4).
To be honest, I feel that the challenge is that we as government officials we don't take this human trafficking very serious. Stakeholders that are involved are not meeting, I don't know about the task team, we don't attend the meetings of the task team, although Home Affairs form part of the Gauteng task team (FGDs-03:19:8).
Language barrier is a problem in the shelters. Barriers in terms of international co-operation, other countries do not take human trafficking very seriously. The element of trust on the victims is the other barrier, this victim were betrayed by everyone they came across, so they lack trust. Shelters have specific limitations, they victims are not there for life, even the legislation say after certain time this people have to be released. Where should they go if they don't have place to stay, we should look into our legislation as well. Another barrier is other countries not coming to party, our international relations have to intervene (FGDs-03:18:6).
Human trafficking is a hidden crime and very complex, so the relevant stakeholders do not know what they are doing, or they don't know how to deal with it. Instead of fixing the root of the problem, the stakeholders use the health care services to help the victims. Government and law enforcement agencies don't know what human trafficking is, so they don't know how to deal with it. Corruption is very rife within the human trafficking environment; police are involved in corruption a lot, because they protect the traffickers not to get caught. Department of Home affairs allow illegal immigrants to enter our borders gates, airports and seaports, immigration officers from this department are also corrupt and protect those who do not have proper documents to enter South Africa. Department of social development sell the victims back to the traffickers after they were rescued from the trafficking ring (KII-05:06:6).
A survivor said the following: Resistance to deal with TIP matters because of issues of safety and security. People fear that if they get involved they are prone to danger. TIP matters are complex in nature and sometimes officials do not want complicated cases. At some point I had to travel all regions to conduct assessments myself because they claim it was too difficult to handle (FGDs-03:18:9).
The responses above, highlighted that despite the utilisation of a multi-method approach to understand the challenges confronting the relevant stakeholders, pointed to the sophistication of handling TIP cases. Based on the responses, the complexity of cases as well as the relative lack of adequate knowledge about the interpretation of relevant TIP legislation have a direct impact on the success of relevant stakeholders to respond adequately to investigate and successfully prosecute perpetrators. The fact that other agencies working in silos and worse still, not prioritise TIP cases and their officials were properly equipped with necessary resources to identify the crime it is difficult to ensure that trafficking investigations will result in arrests and prosecutions of offenders. The SAPS is yet to officially publicly inform the public about its success rate in terms of the number of cases successfully prosecuted. Though statistics in terms of the scourge of the problem regarding TIP is still topical in South Africa, hence the non-availability of the official statistics. Once published, it will not be a surprise from the research community and policymakers if the numbers are low in terms of investigations and prosecutions, considering the widespread lack of awareness of the problem and the specific challenges that these types of cases present.

Theme 2: Fear of retribution due to a lack of awareness
The majority of participants highlighted that survivors of human trafficking often displayed signs of fear and reluctance to cooperate with relevant stakeholders due to a possibility of extreme violence once apprehended by their traffickers. The ability of the relevant stakeholders to provide adequate shelters also contributed to the fear of non-corporative. The participant highlighted their frustrations in terms of the lack of awareness by the relevant stakeholders, they stipulated that awareness campaigns are not enough and they are done at the wrong places not actually targeting those who have potential of being the victims of human trafficking. They have explained that the relevant stakeholders to human trafficking are not reaching the impact level in terms of raising awareness in the communities of South Africa, especially in three selected area of Gauteng Province.
The victims' worst fears were the perception that the police would not be there to help them. Awareness is not enough as it is very national, which means it happen one day. It is not much like twenty-one (21) days of activism, it has to happen 365 days a year and it's not a collaborative effort of all the relevant stakeholders involved in combating human trafficking (KII-05:02:4).
One participant stressed the problem of causes of crime (like poverty, unemployment, dysfunctional families, and lack of opportunities etc.) and the pressure the social media put on the women to live a fleshy, expensive lifestyle that they cannot afford.
Social media put pressure on women to live a fleshy, wealthy lifestyle, they like material things. They want to be in intimate relationships with rich guys because it's the lifestyle they see on the social media. The new trend of blessers and blessee has increased among our communities because women want to drive expensive cars, wear designer clothe, and put in expensive Brazilian hairs. Poverty life that young women face or undergo in the rural areas or townships contribute to the problem of human trafficking. Dysfunctional families contribute to human trafficking, because many households don't have parents or guardian because maybe they died due to HIV and AIDS. You will find a young girl who has to take care of her siblings in terms of making sure they go to school wearing uniform, provide for food for them and all the needs they want in the house (KII-05:08:5).

The survivor said:
When I was trafficked, everyday there was a new girl, it's something that happens every day. Every week there was ten girls trafficked. It's not like something that happened once in a while it's something that happened everyday. Woman and young girls are trafficked everyday and the traffickers are making profit out their bodies (KII-05:04:1).
When asked about the profile of victims as well as that of trafficker's participants said, this is what they had to say: When I was trafficked, most the victims were girls from rural areas of South Africa and to a smaller number from the urban areas, and also foreign nationals from SADC countries, Thailand and Brazil. The age of victims from South Africa was between age of 12 to 25 years, and all the races were trafficked. The age of victims from other countries was between 18 to 31 years. The victims all had similar characteristics, because they were all desperate for opportunities, jobs, modeling careers, and looking for scholarships, they were vulnerable desperate for a better life (KII-05:04:2). I can say the profile of traffickers when I was trafficked included lot of women and men benefiting from human trafficking, most of the women were South Africans and majority of men were from Nigeria and Ghana, and small number from South Africa (KII-05:07:3).
The responses above, highlighted that the participants it was a challenge to obtained the cooperation of victims either to become witnesses. As traffickers use various modus operandi to coerce their victims as well as to lure their victims in order to bring these victims under their control, the implications for all relevant stakeholders is to revisit their current strategies, as well as their awareness campaigns if their adequate and responsive to the challenge. Victims also distrusted the stakeholders and fear of retribution from the traffickers. The implications are that, while the victims could convince themselves that they are in the safe place to open up to the stakeholders' intervention, the fact that there is a loss of control as well as identity can be extremely traumatic. The geographical and physical invasive aspects of trafficked victims also come with trauma. For the stakeholders to respond adequately to the challenges brought by TIP, it is therefore, essential that stakeholders be cognitive of the need to better comprehend the role of victim support services, to prevent psychological coercion within human trafficking. This calls for better and improved victim support services. Stakeholders the importance of efficient and effective support that can "protect" trafficked victims in shelters that also can rehabilitate the victims, and not all stakeholders who provide assistance in areas such as prevention and prosecution.

Theme 3: The causes and contributing factors to human trafficking
The study revealed that there are lot of causes and contributing factors to human trafficking in South Africa. Economic conditions like poverty, unemployment, lack of opportunities amongst other things cause and contribute to human trafficking in South Africa. HIV and AIDS, dysfunctional families also contribute to human trafficking in South Africa.

Theme 4: Scourge of corruption and bribery
When asked how prevalent was corruption amongst the service providers who handled victims of human trafficking, the majority of the participants concurred that the problem was a serious concern. Some said: . . . There is a lot of corruption and bribery taking place amongst the DHA, SAPS and DSD officials . . . The DHA officials are corrupt and take bribes of the traffickers, in exchange to do travelling documents for victims of human trafficking. The SAPS officials tip the traffickers about the upcoming operations on human trafficking, whereas the DSD officials take the victims who were rescued from the trafficking ring back to the traffickers when the victims of human trafficking are at the safety homes or shelters. (Participant 11 from the DPCI).
Based on the responses above, the findings painted a bleak picture regarding standard operating procedures for proactive victim protection and safekeeping efforts. The prevalence of corruption amongst the officials, hampered effective implementation of the national anti-trafficking strategy. The lack of command and control measures offers less restrictions for perpetrators to who incentivised the officials involved in corruptive practices, thus increase widespread illicit practices with trafficking vulnerabilities. Despite endemic corruption among officials that impedes antitrafficking efforts and enables traffickers to operate with impunity, there were very few of the officials prosecuted for trafficking offenses. It is also unknown, if audits were ever conducted amongst the NGOs by the DSD in order to revoke the licenses of those organisations suspected of failing to adhere to service-level agreements, and who were also, confirmed to have been directly involved in trafficking. The evidence based on the responses suggests the public view that holds true regarding pervasiveness of political corruption, and even if everyone condemns corruption and realises a less corrupt outcome would be more beneficial for society at large. Corruption is universally condemned, but unfortunately, despite international treaty instruments and regional efforts to curb corruption, it remains ubiquitous. Opportunities for corruption stretch across a wide range of official positions and branches of Government (. The results of a 2009 UNODC survey revealed that law enforcement officials (including police, border control, immigration, and customs officials) are considered to be those most likely to participate in trafficking-related corruption. While corruption is more prevalent within this group, a review of available evidence confirms that the reach of corruption is indeed much broader. In short, from a collective action perspective, the key calculation about the costs and benefits of corruption derives from the cost of being the first to opt out of corruption in a given setting or context. The problem of corruption is thus rooted in the fact that, where corruption is pervasive, principals are also corrupt and they do not necessarily act in the interest of society as a whole but rather pursue particularistic interests (Persson et al., 2013[as cited in DFID, 2015).

Recommendation
It is the view of the authors that the Ministry of Women and Children in the Presidency, should be actively involved towards the fighting the scourge of human trafficking in South Africa. This strategic position of this ministry can go a long way in addressing the subject of prevention and protection of trafficking in women and children. The involvement of this ministry will work very closely with other ministries, for example, DHA where the processing of necessary travel documents for the victims would be improved. This would bring, to a great extent, confidence regarding the welfare of the victims is taken a priority and might also, alter greater cooperation from the victims to become state witnesses. The ministry, in collaboration with other relevant stakeholders, can hold regular stakeholders' meetings to review the various issues in countering human trafficking in South Africa.
The study recommends that training of the SAPS officials at all levels was crucial, it was revealed that only investigators tasked with human trafficking receive training in this regard, and not local SAPS officials. This could jeopardize the whole process of responding to the human trafficking problem, as initial contact with the victims, their families, and even with the criminals occurs at the local police station level. The study further recommends that many incidents of human trafficking are initiated on the Internet, this calls for the use of technologically advanced devices by the stakeholders and CJS officials. Officials should be trained in and be able to use different sophisticated devices to access covert sites on the Internet to detect incidences resembling human trafficking. It was clear during the data collection that all the stakeholders dealing with human trafficking use awareness as the main strategy to fight and combat human trafficking. The study recommends that all the relevant stakeholders should ensure that awareness is done in the areas where there are a lot of potential victims of human trafficking. The study further recommends that all social media platforms should be used by stakeholders in terms of raising awareness. Perpetrators of human trafficking use different social media platforms to lure and recruit their potential victims, as a result even the stakeholder combating human trafficking should also use the different social media platforms to raise awareness about human trafficking on potential victims.

Conclusion
The findings of this study highlighted that current challenges contributing to human trafficking. This study showed that lack of cooperation and support among the stakeholders involved in combating human trafficking also was a major setback to respond adequately to TIP. The DPCI, DHA, SAPS, NPA and the NGOs are supposed to provide a multidisciplinary and joint responsibility approach, such as the greater awareness to the public about the scourge of human trafficking. There should also be concerted effort from all stakeholders to work in collaboration and prioritisations of TIP cases brought to their attention. The SAPS as well as the DPCI, are supposed to maintain constant liaison with NGOs working on anti-human trafficking to ensure that adequate support services are provided to the victims.