The trafficking of children for purposes of sexual exploitation

Map 5: Some indication of the local trafficking of girl
children in the Cape Peninsula
3. The lives of trafficked children
The children spoke about their lives, in the gang, as they experienced and remembered it. The
memories they chose to share were those that related to their first involvement, the treatment
they received in the gang and their desire for escape. These memories are presented here in
thematic form. Their testimonies also allowed for the construction of profiles, which are
presented in tables 5 and 6.
4.1. Chantal's story
Our first interviewee, Chantal, is from the Eastern Cape. She was 13 when she ran away from a
reformatory in 1992. She met the gang leader at the end of 1993, in Green Point. According to
her testimony he had two other girls working for him at the time. Both these girls left soon after
her arrival into the group. She was thus left to work alone until she managed to lure two more
girls from the street.
The first year and a half of Chantal's life with the gang leader was spent moving from a hotel to
two different houses before they settled in a house in Salt River, owned by him.
Chantal's story of her life in this interview starts when she met the gang leader. This she
describes in detail. Her testimony was given in a clear but emotionless monotone.
She mentions her lack of knowledge about prostitution and inability to get away from him.
Already within a day of their acquaintance, according to her, he was able to threaten her with
retributive action from the police for having run away from the reformatory.
She relates her initial contact with him and the first few months of her life with him thus:
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