Gauteng authorities have shut down a factory whose owners were implicated in the trafficking of children from Mozambique and forcing them into child labour.
Police say they are conducting further investigations into the case against Boyu International Electrical Supply, which is owned by a Chinese foreign national.
The Gauteng Department of Social Development said eight youths aged 14 to 17, were trafficked from Xai-Xai in Mozambique and forced to work at the Chinese factory in Nigel.
The teenage boys told the authorities they were taken from Nbacunte village in Mozambique in January by a taxi driver who lives in the area.
“The eight were found by the police during a raid initiated by the Department of Labour and Employment after it got information that a Chinese factory in Nigel was employing children and undocumented foreign nationals in January this year. The children were placed at the Mary Moodley Child and Youth Care Centre in Benoni,” said departmental spokesperson Themba Gadebe.
Gauteng SAPS spokesperson Mavela Masondo said the factory, which has been operational for three years, has since been shut down.
Masondo said a suspect was arrested but his case was never enrolled on the court roll due to insufficient evidence.
“We are still investigating the matter. The suspect is in the country legally. The Department of Labour and Employment shut down his factory,” Masondo said.
Gadebe said the youth told social workers that they were Mozambican nationals and had come to South Africa with about 14 other boys from their village after being recruited by the Nigel company’s driver.
“The driver of the taxi was reported to have come from the same village and asked young men and families who were interested in working in South Africa, Johannesburg. He informed the recruits and family members that there was no need for passports or documents.
“According to the trafficked victims, inside the minibus, there were other children of their same age wearing expensive sneakers and using iPhones, convincing them to come with them,” Gadebe said.
On Tuesday, social workers managing the case asked the Children’s Court in Nigel to grant permission to release them from the place of safety where they had been kept and allow them to be repatriated to Mozambique.
The Mozambican consulate issued them temporary travel documents and allowed a care-to-care process between the social development departments in the two countries.
The children were handed over to social workers at the Komatipoort border post.
Several studies have ranked South Africa among countries with a high rate of cross-border human trafficking cases. Interpol has warned that migrant smugglers take advantage of people who want to leave their home countries to escape poverty, conflict, or simply want to seek a better life.
Interpol further advises that “even if irregular migrants generally enter into the journey -voluntarily, they are often exposed to significant risks, including that of being trafficked, kidnapped or die in transit to their destinations.”
In November 2019 seven Chinese nationals, four men and three women were arrested. The arrests followed a tip-off that the Chinese nationals were allegedly involved in the trafficking of illegal immigrants. During the blitz 91 Malawian nationals were found in the factory, 37 of them were children. During court proceedings, it was revealed the Malawians working in the factory were transported in cargo containers.
