Pretoria - The three men arrested on charges of human trafficking and child sex should not be granted bail, Chairperson of Parliaments' Portfolio Committee on Social Development Yolanda Botha said.
"We want to see the alleged perpetrators being brought to book. We want to work with community leaders in sensitising our vulnerable people not to fall victim to false promises by these monsters, who lure children to cities promising them a better life only to subject them to prostitution and drug trafficking," she said in a statement on Tuesday.
The men's bail hearing was due to start on Tuesday in the Durban Magistrate's Court. The matter in which the state opposes bail was postponed to 25 April.
Granting bail to the alleged would not only undermine government's efforts in abolishing human trafficking and child prostitution but it would endanger the lives of others, according to Botha.
The three were arrested in February during a police raid where 16 girls were rescued from a building in Point, Durban. Eight of the 16 girls were minors while others were found to be under the influence of drugs.
The girls were thought to have been used as drug mules and were to be shipped out of South Africa from Durban.
