Border officials in South Africa say they have intercepted dozens of buses carrying more than 400 young children from Zimbabwe without parents or legal guardians in an anti-trafficking operation.
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Border officials in South Africa say they have intercepted dozens of buses carrying more than 400 young children from Zimbabwe without parents or legal guardians in an anti-trafficking operation.
More than 1 million Zimbabweans live in South Africa, many of them illegally, having moved to their southern neighbor over the past 15 years to escape Zimbabwe’s economic turmoil.
South African Border Management Agency commissioner Mike Masiapato said Sunday that South African police stopped and searched 42 buses entering from Zimbabwe on Saturday night and found 443 children under the age of 8 traveling unaccompanied.
“We denied them entry and activated the Zimbabwean officials to process them back into Zimbabwe,” Masiapato said.
Ngqabutho Mabhena, chairperson of the Africa Diaspora Forum, which represents foreign nationals living in South Africa, said his organization believed the buses were carrying Zimbabwean children coming to South Africa to visit their parents, which is a regular phenomenon near the end of the year.
He said it is common that children are sent over the border without proper documentation allowing them to travel as unaccompanied minors.
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JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Border officials in South Africa say they have intercepted dozens of buses carrying more than 400 young children from Zimbabwe without parents or legal guardians in an anti-trafficking operation.
More than 1 million Zimbabweans live in South Africa, many of them illegally, having moved to their southern neighbor over the past 15 years to escape Zimbabwe’s economic turmoil.
South African Border Management Agency commissioner Mike Masiapato said Sunday that South African police stopped and searched 42 buses entering from Zimbabwe on Saturday night and found 443 children under the age of 8 traveling unaccompanied.
“We denied them entry and activated the Zimbabwean officials to process them back into Zimbabwe,” Masiapato said.
Ngqabutho Mabhena, chairperson of the Africa Diaspora Forum, which represents foreign nationals living in South Africa, said his organization believed the buses were carrying Zimbabwean children coming to South Africa to visit their parents, which is a regular phenomenon near the end of the year.
He said it is common that children are sent over the border without proper documentation allowing them to travel as unaccompanied minors.
The original article contains 386 words, the summary contains 181 words. Saved 53%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!