Johannesburg – They stood huddled against the window with a torch shining on their faces as law enforcement officials raided several rooms.
The smell inside the Rosettenville brothel was stale and putrid. A heater was on in a bedroom and the sound of a crying baby was heard in the next door room.
On Wednesday night, several parts of Rosettenville were raided in a bid to weed out criminals involved in drug dealing, brothels, hijacked houses and illegal immigrants.
City of Joburg mayor Herman Mashaba, together with member of the mayoral committee (MMC) for public safety Michael Sun and MMC for development planning Funzi Ngobeni, led the raid with the help of the SAPS and the Joburg metro police department (JMPD).
Inside the brothel, there was only one dilapidated bathroom for all the girls to share. Mattresses were covered in dirt and grime, with makeshift curtains shielding the windows from any onlookers, while unused condoms littered the floors. The number of rooms inside seemed endless and the police and JMPD began to search thoroughly.
“They hide drugs under the floorboards and in the roof,” said an officer as he pointed to a large hole in a corner of the ceiling.
They lifted the carpet and found several holes in the floorboards where drugs are usually stashed. “They knew we were coming; it’s (drugs) hidden somewhere,” one of the officers said.
The JMPD K9 Unit, members of the local community policing forum and the police combed through the bushes outside, torches in hand.
“They use urine and faeces to cover up the scent of the drugs they’re using to stop our K9 Unit from sniffing it out. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t,” an officer explained.
The three girls were upset about what was going on, with two of them saying this was the only life they knew. “They buy me what I need, I’m a foreigner and this is the only way I can survive or make an income, I don’t have any other way,” said one of the girls, aged 16.
A man suspected of being one of their pimps was brought into an empty room where he was questioned thoroughly by Mashaba and the officers. Asked where his papers were, he claimed he had asylum papers, which had expired. He kept insisting he had done nothing wrong. Mashaba chastised him for his actions and said he was destroying these girls’ lives.
A family who live next door cheered as police led the three men suspected of running the brothel out of the house in handcuffs.
“We’ve been asking for intervention for almost three years and have had no help, we are so grateful,” said a resident.
In one home, there was severe overcrowding, and illegal electricity connections to nine different rooms were found. “The meter reads zero, but there is electricity in the house,” said Mashaba as he called for City Power officials to disconnect the power. At another house, residents wouldn’t open their doors and members of the K9 Unit and police climbed over the walls and forced their way in.
Raids continued across the area into the early hours of the morning. During a media briefing after the raid, Mashaba vowed that this was just the beginning and that other areas would be targeted. “We are here to send a signal to criminal elements that we are declaring war on you. We are going to make life so difficult for them here that they will end up abandoning our city,” he said.
When asked about those who claimed that these operations were being initiated to score political points, Mashaba had a strong retort. “On Sunday, we saw these residents take the law into their own hands. People in Rosettenville are crying for help.
“They are asking us, as government, to give them protection, and for anyone to say that this is a political point-scoring exercise, it’s a very unfortunate statement to make.” He said they would engage with the national government to help them as they also needed Home Affairs, among other departments, to deal with the larger issues at hand.
A number of people were arrested for being in possession of drugs, illegal ammunition, drug dealing and prostitution, among others.
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