There are an estimated 155,000 people living in modern slavery in South Africa (GSI 2018). South Africa remains a source, transit and destination country for men, women and children subjected to forced labour and sex trafficking. South African children were recruited from poor, rural areas to urban centres, such as Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, and Bloemfontein, where girls were subjected to sex trafficking and domestic servitude and boys are forced to work in street vending, food service, begging, criminal activities, and agriculture. Local criminal rings organized child sex trafficking, Russian and Bulgarian crime syndicates facilitated trafficking within the Cape Town commercial sex industry, and Thai and Chinese nationals often organized the sex trafficking of Asian men and women. Nigerian syndicates dominated the commercial sex industry in several provinces. To a lesser extent, syndicates recruited South African women to Europe and Asia, where some are forced into prostitution, domestic servitude, or drug smuggling. At 13 years old, Ella* was abducted by a boy from her school and forced to marry him. She was taken from Lesotho to South Africa, kept in the house and sexually assaulted every night. She was finally able to escape after three months.

There are an estimated 9000 people living in modern slavery in Lesotho (GSI 2018). Traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in the country, as well as trafficking people from Lesotho abroad. Basotho children are trafficked into domestic servitude and animal herding, especially orphans who migrate to urban areas, in sex trafficking. Basotho women and girls wanting to migrate to South Africa are also often detained by traffickers in prison-like conditions and forced into sexual exploitation. Dee came into the care of Beautiful Dream Society after she was falsely promised a job. Instead she was kidnapped, held against her will and raped repeatedly before being left for dead. With the help of a woman who gave her money, Dee was able to go to the police and have her abuser arrested.