110 undocumented children rescued in a week

The rescue of 14 undocumented children who were allegedly being smuggled into SA had added to the growing number of youngsters in the care of the department of social development.

The children, aged between four and 14, were rescued after Border Management Authority (BMA) officials intercepted a minibus taxi at the Lebombo entry port on Friday.

This brings to 110 the number of undocumented children who have been rescued in a week and have been moved to centres across the country.

Just over a week ago, the North West department of social development said it had taken in 96 undocumented children who were rescued from a disused mine in Stilfontein.

Department spokesperson Lumka Oliphant said nearly 100 new cases enter the system annually, growing from 657 in 2020.

The children come from different countries including Mozambique, Lesotho, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Angola, she said.

Some were allegedly brought in illegally by their parents and abandoned in SA.

BMA spokesperson Mmemme Mogotsi said a taxi had been stopped randomly to be searched.

Mogotsi said the 14 children were handed to the department of social development.

“They [officials] asked the driver for documentation for the children but he could not produce them. There were other people in the taxi but the driver was the only one arrested and the children were taken away.

“The driver was immediately arrested and charged with aiding and abetting illegal entry under the Immigration Act,” said Mogotsi.

Children living in a centre recalled how they arrived with their parents. 

 Pretty*, from tDRC, recalled the terror of fleeing her war-torn home to seek refuge in SA with her mother, who later abandoned her. She is staying at Kids Haven in Benoni, Ekurhuleni.

One day she was living in her home country and the next she had to hop into a truck with many other people and start the long journey to SA to seek refuge.

“I think I was seven years old. I used to go to school with my sister in Bukavu. That's where I was born. Everything was going well until a war started.

“I don't know what the war was about. What I remember was that every day after school we had to run home because we were scared something might happen along the way,” she said.

She said her father was a soldier who left home for long periods until he was fatally shot.

“We had to go to the pastor's house. He helped us come to SA. We came here by truck. I don't know what day we arrived here, but it was in 2016 and a few days before my birthday,” said the 15-year-old girl. 

“Things were hectic because we were young and my mom was panicking. She wanted us to be out of the place as soon as possible,” she said, adding she had not seen her mother in years.

Another child at the centre is 12-year-old Joshua*, who also arrived in SA at a young age. He was found on the streets when he was seven.

“I was three years old. My grandmother and I were leaving DRC for SA but I would have to go first. She gave me to a person who was coming from DRC to SA, and I came in a bus. They dropped me off, and later I found out my grandmother died,” Joshua said.

BMA arrested eight Bangladeshi nationals at the Beitbridge border post when they attempted to cross into SA without valid travel documents on Saturday.

They told authorities they were heading to Krugersdorp.

* Not their real names

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