WINDHOEK —23 June 2010-(allafrica.com)-The issue of the sex trade had dominated the news with the inception of the FIFA Soccer World Cup in South Africa and the recently held Africa Cup of Nations in Luanda, and had become a matter of major concern in the region as a whole.

This was said by Rosalia Nghidinwa, Minister of Home Affairs and Immigration, at a Womens' Action for Development (WAD) Erongo Field day and graduation ceremony for unemployed students in Swakopmund on Thursday.

Presiding at the graduation of 120 students, Nghidinwa commended WAD for their focus on the upliftment of living standards of the most marginalised communities of society, especially women.

On the issue of the sex trade and human trafficking, the Minister said that Namibia was a transit between the countries of Angola and South Africa, where the two major football events had and were currently being held.

She said that even in Namibia children were being trafficked for "domestic servitude and forced agricultural labour" and her Ministry was also aware of children from Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Angola who were used in Namibia for domestic work and livestock herding.

Her Ministry was working on how to address such problems through registration of cattle herders, among others.

The leading cause of trafficking, she added, was profit and "this type of trend has to come to an end and the region will not continue to entertain these types of practice in SADC and the entire African continent.”

Trafficking of women and children into prostitution had also become the third largest source of financial profit for organised crime after drugs and gun sales. "One of the contributing factors to this is the myth among some African beliefs that AIDS can be prevented by having sex with a virgin", she added, saying that she wished to make it clear that there was no cure up to now for HIV-Aids and "we must condemn those who are misguiding innocent Namibians that by having sex with a minor you can be cured". The only solution, the Minister said, was for those infected to get ARVs and use them accordingly.

She emphasised that Namibia was a 'Christian nation' and Government would work together with churches to address the problem. If culprits could be identified, they would be served with a stiff punishing to serve as a deterrent to others.

Most human traffickers, she continued, especially for women and children, had come in or left the country through Oshikango, Ariamsvlei and Noordoewer border points.

The Government was trying to 'seal loopholes' and she had personally visited the borders between Namibia and South Africa to encourage immigration officials and police to search all truck and vehicles crossing the border.

"One of the culprits who were hiding in a truck was arrested on the spot in my presence" Minister Nghidinwa said.

If WAD and others continued to train rural people in various skills to become small entrepreneurs and sustain themselves, then they would not seek their livelihood through the sex trade.

Criminals, she added, had become sophisticated, and she called for vigilance on the part of everyone in society to apprehend traffickers.

She finally called upon the beneficiaries of the WAD training to make use of their expertise and skills gained to initiate vibrant community projects.