A child-trafficking racket involving Mozambique, Swaziland and South Africa is under investigation, said Mpumalanga police on Tuesday.
Inspector Eddie Ngobeni said the investigation arose after a report from the Amazing Grace children’s home in Malelane, near Nelspruit.
Ngobeni said poor children from Mozambique and Swaziland with no families, all girls aged between 10 and 16, were allegedly being offered a ”luxury life” in South Africa.
Instead they ended up first in hiding in the Malelane area, then being taken to Gauteng and used as prostitutes or in pornographic material.
He said there were ”a lot of them” and that this had apparently been going on since about 2000.
He said allegations that police may be involved, particularly those involved in arresting or deporting undocumented immigrants, would be investigated.
Malelane is in eastern Mpumalanga, at the southern end of the Kruger National Park, near the borders with Mozambique and Swaziland. — Sapa