More than 100 000 people took to the streets of Durban on 30 June, March and March. Banners. Chanting. Traditional weapons raised in the sun. A whole day given to one cause. Say what you want about the march itself, that’s not mine to judge. It’s not my place to tell a nation what it should or shouldn’t be angry about, and I won’t pretend I have the standing to. I’m not writing this to tell you the march was right or wrong.
I’m writing this because while a nation found the zeal to march for a whole day, something far more evil has been operating in the same streets, the same taxi ranks, the same job adverts, the same church pews, for years, and it barely gets a hashtag.
We keep fixing symptoms. We are not touching the root.
We Always Need Someone To Blame
This is not a South African problem. It’s a human problem. When things fall apart, when jobs disappear, when crime rises, when our children aren’t safe, we go looking for someone to blame. And if we can’t find the real culprit, we settle for the closest, weakest, most vulnerable target we can find.
In South Africa right now, that target is the undocumented foreigner.
Yes, there are Nigerian trafficking syndicates operating here. That’s documented, that’s real, and it should be named. But there are also Zimbabwean syndicates, South African syndicates, Malawian syndicates, and syndicates from literally every nation on earth. Human trafficking is not a black problem, not a foreign problem, not an African problem. It is a sin problem wearing whatever passport is most convenient that day.
We are an easy target for division because we are not unified. I’m not calling for unity today, even though I wish I could. What I am calling for is a redirection. Because the truth none of us want to sit with is this: protests will not end human trafficking. They are a perfect distraction, and traffickers know exactly how to capitalise on a divided, distracted nation.
The Numbers Nobody Marched For
Every day, people go missing in this country. Some are trafficked. Some are killed and disposed of. Men, women, children. Every race, every age, every background. There is no single face to this crime, which is exactly why it hides so well.
Globally, an estimated 49.6 million people are trapped in modern slavery right now, while you read this sentence. Every 30 seconds another person is added to that number. South Africa is not exempt. It is a source, transit, and destination country for trafficking, and our porous borders, our unemployment, our corruption, and yes, our chaos and displacement, make us fertile ground for it.
Here’s the question I can’t shake: if we can mobilise 100 000 people to march for an entire day, what could we mobilise if that same fire was pointed at the traffickers who are actually stealing our people?
I’m not saying march up to a trafficking syndicate and confront them head-on. That endangers the very victims we’d be trying to save. But imagine if that same manpower went into rescue operation support, into training communities to recognise the signs, into pressuring government for a properly funded anti-trafficking unit instead of a reactive one. Imagine if just one person out of that 100 000 gave R5 to an organisation actually doing the work. Imagine how many people could come home before it’s too late for them.
Human trafficking, tangled together with corruption, is one of the biggest threats we face as a nation. And it is consistently the last thing we organise a march for.
Displacement Feeds The Very Thing We’re Trying To Fight
Here’s the part that grieves me most. The more we destroy communities, burn shops, and displace people in the name of “fixing” the country, the more vulnerable people we create. Fear pushes people into hiding. Hiding pushes people into the shadows. And traffickers thrive in the shadows. They don’t need us to look away completely, they just need us looking somewhere else for a while.
If we keep fighting symptoms instead of roots, where does that actually lead us? Not to freedom. Just to a different kind of captivity, dressed up as a solution.
This Fight Is Spiritual First
"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." — Ephesians 6:12
I want to be careful here, because I’m not saying the people trafficking human beings aren’t flesh and blood, they very much are, and they will answer for it. But behind the flesh and blood is a spirit of greed and exploitation that has been dressing itself up in new disguises since the beginning of time. You don’t defeat that with sticks and machetes in the street. You defeat it first on your knees, where you get the wisdom and the empowerment to actually use what God already put in your hands, whether that’s resources, time, a platform, or leadership.
"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners." — Isaiah 61:1-3
That is the heart of the Father. Freedom for the captive. Not freedom for whoever we’ve decided is the easiest to blame this season.
"Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy." — Proverbs 31:8-9
"Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked." — Psalm 82:4
"Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." — James 1:27
None of these verses say “protect only your own.” They say defend the destitute, rescue the weak, visit the afflicted. Full stop. No qualifying passport required.
Let Us Open Our Eyes
I’m not asking anyone to stop caring about crime, about unemployment, about broken systems in this country. Those are real. Feel free to march for that. What I’m asking is that we don’t let a spiritual enemy hide behind a human scapegoat while it keeps stealing our sons and daughters in plain sight.
Let us open our eyes and see the real enemy. Let us pray with the same intensity we protest with. Let us give with the same energy we chant with. Let us train, support, and fund the people already doing rescue work, the way we’d show up for a cause that made the news for a day.
Because the captives the Father is asking us to set free aren’t going to be freed by a march route through the city centre. They’re going to be freed by people who first got on their knees, and then got their hands dirty doing something about it.
If you or someone you know may be a victim of trafficking, contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 0800 222 777.
If this stirred something in you, don’t let it stop at reading. Pray about it. Give what you can, even if it’s R5. And start paying attention to what’s actually hiding in plain sight around you.
John Thole is the voice behind Beyond Salvation, a blog that captures the highs and lows of life through faith, laughter, and honest reflection. With a passion for storytelling, technology, and spiritual growth, he creates content that resonates with seekers, believers, and anyone navigating life’s journey. Whether sharing personal insights, devotionals, or thought-provoking discussions, John aims to inspire, uplift, and spark meaningful conversations.
