How Lesotho ground-breaking case was bungled SECHABA MOKHETHI A 42-year old Chinese man was sentenced 15 years in prison with no option of fine but is now a free man after spending only two months in jail. The Maseru magistrate court had slapped Zheng Chuan Xian with 15-years imprisonment in January 2012,

BILLY NTAOTE The alleged Fouriesburg social-media serial rapist Mokena Petrus Nhlapo (39) is now facing 46 criminal charges since his arrest by members of the Bethlehem Family violence, child protection, and sexual offences Unit (FCS). Nhlapo is facing charges of kidnapping, trafficking of persons for sexual purposes, assault, pointing of a firearm,

SECHABA MOKHETHI Poverty-stricken Basotho usually fall prey to scams and deceptions which see them lured into trafficking traps which result in forced sex work and labour, dashing any hopes of greener pastures in the comparatively rich South Africa. MNN Centre for Investigative Journalism has uncovered these misdeeds are not only performed by

A woman tells her story of being abducted and trafficked across the border into slavery SECHABA MOKHETHI One day, Lipuo woke up in Johannesburg, with no memory of how she got there. As she regained consciousness, she came to discover she and her friend, Itumeleng, had been trafficked across the South African border.

BILLY NTAOTE Lineo*, just seventeen (17) — tempted by the promise of a luxurious life in South Africa — found herself agreeing to date Charles*, they connected through social media, later agreeing to a first romantic get-away that turned out to be a gateway to being trafficked into prostitution. She told MNN

LEKHETHO NTSUKUNYANE ALBERTON - Details of how Relebohile Koaeana ended up shackled and locked up in a garage for three days without food by her bosses in a foreign land are nothing short of shock. The domestic worker from Maseru was being forced by her employers in Brackenhurst, Alberton South Africa, to

LEKHETHO NTSUKUNYANE BEREA - When 17-year old Ntsoaki Lenka was tricked by her parents into marrying a 72-year old South African sangoma (traditional healer) in 2014, she was perplexed. The girl who had barely completed her secondary education had other things on her mind, and getting married to a total stranger was

Porous borders land Zim sisters in Maseru misery SECHABA MOKHETHI Two Zimbabwean sisters were ensnared and forced into prostitution in Maseru, putting under the spotlight the challenge of porous borders in the Southern Africa region where migrants use fake passports and bribe corrupt officers to enter recipient countries. Without passports the girls, aged

BILLY NTAOTE, LEKHETHO NTSUKUNYANE and SECHABA MOKHETHI BLOEMFONTEIN – Sherperded into a brothel distant from home and repeatedly raped by a foreign national and subsequently falling pregnant, such as been the traumatic existance of a 17-year old Angie* who has since cut herself from even once trusted friends. Forced to fend for