-
Minister for Women, Youth and Persons with Disablities, Sindisiwe Chikunga.
Minister in the Presidency responsible for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Sindisiwe Chikunga, says social media companies that recruit the youth for overseas jobs must act transparently and ensure that the recruitment is safe and accountable.
She was delivering a special statement in the National Assembly this week. This follows an outcry after South African social media influencers promoted a Russian programme called Alabuga Start, which promoted work opportunities, but investigations found it was a front for forced labour in a military industrial complex.
In another development, seven Chinese nationals were sentenced to 20 years each this week for trafficking and forced labour in South Africa.
Chikunga says the youth must be vigilant and verify all work opportunities.
“Families and communities have raised a growing outcry, particularly about suspicious recruitment agencies on social media platforms such as TikTok, where traffickers disguise exploitation as jobs, scholarships or modelling opportunities. The seriousness of this threat is not abstract. Recently, the Department of International Relations and Cooperation confirmed the return of 23 South Africans who had been trafficked under false pretences and forced into cyber crimes and operations.”
[Recap]
Yesterday, Minister @s_chikunga appeared before the National Assembly to deliver a Ministerial Statement on Human Trafficking and Unsolicited Jobs. pic.twitter.com/eQFesFDqSd
— Dept of Women, Youth & Persons with Disabilities (@DWYPD_ZA) September 11, 2025
