THREE alleged Rastafarians are scheduled to appear in the Warmbaths Magistrate’s Court on Thursday in connection with keeping nine children in an old mineshaft. The five girls and four boys, aged between five and 13, were rescued on Friday after police responded to a complaint that there were trespassers at the old Zwartlkloof mine, 10km outside the Northern Province town. The children were found about one kilometre into an underground tunnel. Bushveld police spokesman, Captain Blackie Swart, said initial police reports that all children were boys was incorrect. He said the children seem to come from the Hammanskraal area and had accepted lifts from the three men over the past three weeks. He said there were no indications that the children were sexually molested or beaten. The three men who all wear dreadlocks reportedly prayed and slept most of the time. They have been charged with kidnapping. The children were fed mealies and pap. The only water came from pools in the ground. The police are still trying to trace the children’s families. The children have been moved from a place of safety in Warmbaths, to one in Hammanskraal.