BY KEDIBONE MOLAETSI
MORE than 50 children will return back from Free State province and re-unite with their families in Madibogo and Setlagole villages, outside Mahikeng on Tuesday.
The minors were employed as labourers by a farmer.
MEC for Social Development department, Hoffman Galeng will welcome them at Letsapa Community Hall in Setlagole village at around 6pm.
Galeng said more than 254 adults and atleast 20 children from the North West province were employed as labourers. He further said children will be accommodated at a ‘place of safety’ in Mahikeng, while adults will be disbursed to their respective villages and townships upon their arrival.
“We have deployed a team of social workers to provide counselling to the adults and await another group of 19 children who are to be returned from Free State to North West.
“The return of adults and children is part of the 5th administration concretes to reconcile, heal and renewal. The initiative also aims to create unity amongst the people of the North West who were mistreated,” he said.
According to media reports a case of child labour was opened against a farmer in Wesselsbron after under age children were found to be working illegally at Drie Hoek Farm.
The farmer allegedly brought minors from Setlagole, Madibogo, Delareyville and Makwassi to work at his farm and continually mistreating them by not giving them proper food and reasonable wages.
The court has ordered Galeng to ensure that children who were rescued at a farm in Allandridge in Wesselsbron in Free State were retained to a ‘place of safety’ by Tuesday.
The labour department spokesperson, Teboho Thejane said 204 seasonal workers were rescued after being exposed to inhumane conditions.
“We will continue to protect vulnerable workers. Sixty four children were also rescued from a non-compliant employer also operating as an “illegal” labour broker in the Wesselsbron area. Some of those children are from poverty-stricken areas, in Ratlou Local Municipality,” he said.
Thejane said: “The department has been hard at work to crackdown what now seems like a syndicate of mischievous employers paying their workers next to nothing, if at all they get paid, for working their fields.
“Since this clampdown, inspectors of the department have been very alert and leaving no stone unturned in making sure that these criminals are brought to book.”
He further said they are determined to make a clean sweep of the whole Lejweleputswa district.
“We stopped a truck ferrying 31 seasonal workers from one of the Wesselsbron farms back to the North West province.
“The driver of the truck was ordered to head to a local police station together with his passengers. Upon impeccable and thorough investigation by Labour Inspectors and the police, it was discovered that these passengers were seasonal workers and were being transported back home,” Thejane said.
One of minors who once worked at the farm shed more light on the matter.
Tshepiso Mongale, 16, once worked as a labourer at Wesselsbron back in March this year. Mongale who stays with his father and other four siblings said: “I went to the area back in March. I wanted use the money to buy myself a school uniform. No one is working and it is hard to survive. My father is doing odd jobs and he has no basic salary.”
“I was paid R300 after working for two weeks. I want to continue with my studies, but it is hard with abject poverty that we living in. I am doing Grade 7 at Mmadisebo Primary School in Madibogo village.”
The school principal, Evah Bolokang said: “Most of our learners live in appealled conditions. The area is poverty-stricken and that forces them to quit school. Mongale is very intelligent boy. However, the support system he receives is not enough. Anyone who can assist must come forward because we do not want to see his future vanish in thin air.
The Hawks spokesperson, Brig Hangwani Molaudzi said the case has been opened and investigations are under underway.
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