27 children involved in illegal mining to be repatriated to Mozambique

The children were found by police in North West mining locations and placed in safety care while travel documents were arranged to send them home

Twenty-seven teenage boys will be repatriated to Mozambique after being found by police, including some who surfaced from the Stilfontein mine where scores of illegal miners remain underground to evade arrest.

The minors are all undocumented, with 15 found by police in Matlosana and the remaining 12 surfacing from the mines in Stilfontein, said the North West social development department.

All 27 minors were involved in illegal mining activities in the area and were placed in temporary safe care by the department in line with the Children’s Act which states social workers or police should place a child exposed to danger in a place of temporary safe care, spokesperson Petrus Siko said.

“On Tuesday at 00:00 [Monday midnight] the social workers managing the case set out to repatriate the children to Lebombo border with a police escort.”

This came after permission was granted by a court to release the minors from their place of safety and allow the department to repatriate them and hand them over to Mozambique to reunite with their parents.

The Mozambican consulate issued the teens with temporary travel documents and allowed a care-to-care process between the social development departments in the two countries, facilitated by the department and the International Social Workers Services, said Siko.

North West for social development MEC Basetsana Sussana Dantjie thanked her departmental team for arranging temporary safe care for the minors and working about the clock to repatriate them to their home country.

“We thank all the stakeholders who came forward and played a role in ensuring these children receive the necessary care and protection. We also thank the Mozambican consulate for speeding up the process of repatriation,” Dantjie said.

Her department, with stakeholders, are ready to provide similar services to other minors who may surface from the abandoned Stilfontein mine.

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