Table 7.7: Experiences of girls on the way to Johannesburg
Statement Participant
Experienced brutality in the hands of magumaguma and South African security agents
All female URMs Were asked to use sex in exchange for free passage by South
African Security Agents
Flower and Missy Slept in the bush with no food or water and blankets All female URMs
URMs, particularly girls, subjectively stated that they had experienced suffering at the hands of magumaguma and South African security agents who offered them free passage to South Africa if they gave them sex in return. Blossom explained that when they reached a certain gate in the farm of Musina they met the South African soldiers, one of whom said, “If there are virgins there know that you have a ticket to South Africa, I need two
young virgins for me and my friend, then you can proceed to South Africa after you give us what we want.” This concurs with literature that found URMs suffer at the hands of
164
sexual favours in return for free passage (Hlobo 2010:82; cf. Munhande &Dzimba 2010:1; Cammisa 2009; Women‟s Refugee Commission Report 2012:14). Magumagumas also asked for sex in return for security in the bush where they cross. All girls who experienced this trauma avoided the topic of magumagumas, but their similar response raised some questions as to whether they had been raped by the magumagumas and security forces or not.
A male URM who travelled through the bush to South Africa said: “Young girls who
travelled without adults or males, suffered in hands of magumagumas they did all sort of painful things to them; forced girls to kiss them and touch their private parts and some rape them.” Earlier, when I asked ice-breaking questions about how they came to South
Africa and who travelled with them, all but one girl replied that they had migrated with other children via the Musina bush. Therefore, if magumagumas were targeting those without adult or male company which means most girls had been at risk of rape or sexual abuse along the way. As Flower, Missy and Blossom said: “Those who travelled with
males were protected by those males who will lie and say they are their wives, sisters and daughters.”
Children as young as seven years walked alone in groups of four or five, with 10-13 year- old children (Skelton 2010; Munhande & Dzimba 2010:11; Save the Children UK Report 2010), which means that most URMs were unprotected. Girls were more vulnerable to sexual abuse and rape if they had no male adults to protect them. URMs‟ experiences were gendered, with girls sexually abused by male perpetrators, reflecting a power factor as some men or boys want to prove their masculinity by raping and sexually abusing girls or women. The above mentioned report of a security officer looking for virgins was perhaps motivated by the myth of curing HIV through having sex with a virgin. Other traumas included sleeping in the bush with no food, water or blankets, as URMs reported magumaguma were robbing even male adults of their money and possessions. Previous literature has highlighted the danger of unscrupulous gangs, particularly to girls (Cammisa 2009; cf. Hlobo 2010:82; Munhande & Dzimba 2010:1; Women‟s Refugee Commission Report 2012:14).
165
Table 7.8: Experiences unique to boys en route to Johannesburg
Statement Participants
Beaten by magumaguma and lost clothes and money to magumaguma
All Male URMs Saw young girls and women raped by magumaguma All Male URMs
Saw people drowning in the Limpopo river Dombo, Bull, Shasha and Razor
Although most did not report having been sexually abused, many of the boys‟ experiences were similar to those of girls. They also had lost their possessions and those who had no money were beaten and punished for not being prepared to pay for their way to South Africa. Meanwhile, passive experiences impacted on all alike, for example as reported by Shark: “I still see visions of young girls and women raped by magumaguma, those who
resisted were beaten and then gang raped, it was as if I am watching a horror movie” ;and
Dombo, narrated about one woman who could not manage to cross on a bridge made by magumagumas, “…so she fell in water and we saw her drowning and dying, no one
wanted to save her because Limpopo river is full of big crocodiles.” In addition, Shasha
said, “Some people drowned in Limpopo River because the day we crossed it had just
rained and water was just too much.” This confirms literature that found URMs‟ trauma to
be increased by their experiences on the way to their new country of resettlement. They witness the death of their peers who fall under moving trains, drown in rivers, are eaten by crocodiles, or die from hunger and thirst. They see dead people along the way and experience many forms of corruption from security agents (Cammisa 2009; cf. Rothe 2008:628; Munhande & Dzimba 2010:10; Fritsch et al. 2010:628; Skelton 2010; Save the Children 2007).