Another installment in the Our Lives Are Never Dull Over Here series
On Sunday around 7:30pm my neighbour phoned me in a panic about chaos 2 houses down so I went to see what was going on. As I got within view of the road, I saw a crowd of people shouting and then running towards the main road. There was also a massive dogfight going on so I continued closer and as I got to the motorised gate, it opened and another two men ran out in the direction of the main road.
My main concern at that stage was the pair of dogs - pit bulls - that seemed intent on killing each other. A crowd of neighbours was starting to form but understandably, nobody was keen to intervene and one old man said to me: if you go in there and they attack you, nobody will help you and I couldn't argue with that so I settled for getting someone to help me lift the gate off the track and drag it closed to confine the dogs to the property, fortunately the dogs had stopped fighting with each other and were licking their wounds.
When asking what the hell had just gone down and whether the police had been called, I was told that the local station cops were stonewalling, so I called 10111 (our 911). The cops arrived shortly thereafter, toting automatic rifles and I told them not to enter the premises unless they were ready and able to shoot the dogs for their own safety. The main gun-toting policeman took one look at the dogs with giant heads covered in blood and took my advice and the cops conferred among themselves. Apparently, they can't shoot dogs without permission so they resolved to call the K9-unit before trying to gain entry. In the meantime, there were more voices from the house and appeals for help so the people inside were told to sit tight, help was on its way.
So what had just gone down? Ethiopian gangs over here conduct human trafficking of their countrymen: men and boys are with promised employment and smuggled here, but this is just a way of extorting their families back home and the gangs rent houses all over the city to hold their captives in and these men and boys had been put into the house around 3am that morning and 15 hours later the captives had caused a fight and broken out. They'd smashed a large window and then smashed their way through the front door and jumped over the high wall and ran out into the night, some of them barely dressed and injured from jumping the wall.
Human trafficker's dream house with substantial window bars and door gates. You can see the missing panel in the wooden door. The window behind the pillar was also smashed. Abandoned shoe and blanket as the captives made a run for it.
Apparently the last 2 that I saw leaving were their captors, who returned and were observing from a distance. When approached by residents, they ran away again. You can read more about these incidents in the links, there have been numerous. In fact police raided the same house in our street very early one morning about 2 years ago and rescued 30 or 40 Ethiopian captives.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jan/10/ethiopia-arrests-suspected-traffickers-johannesburg
While they waited for the K9 unit, one police van sped off down the road, apparently some of the escapees were in the next street and they managed to locate and rescue 3 of them. What happened to the others, about 17, is anybody's guess and my heart goes out to them. I live in a rough neighbourhood at the best of times and these poor people are illegal migrants who may not even know where they are. Ripe prey for others.
The K9 unit arrived and observed the dogs and decided that they would be able to enter the premises and did so shouting and wielding a metal pipe, successfully intimidating the dogs into a corner. Leaving one of their team to keep them there, they entered the house. 3 more people were extracted and put into the waiting vans. I asked the dog handler cops what they would be doing with the dogs and was assured that they would be removed by animal control, which was duly arranged. I'd had enough rubbernecking for one night and went back to my place. Now the house stands empty and some plain-clothed policemen arrive from time to time to observe, apparently they are trying to track down the new owner of the house, which had just been sold.
What a world we live in! Anytime I feel discontented, something happens around be to remind me just how much worse things could be.