The Border Management Authority (BMA) in South Africa (SA) says six children intercepted while crossing illegally into SA at the Beitbridge border in Limpopo province have been reunited with their parents and deported to Zimbabwe.
The children, aged between 7 and 12, were intercepted with the assistance of the South African National Defence Force.
Authorities say their parents were also undocumented and attempting to enter the country illegally.
BMA Assistant Commissioner Doctor Nkhuliseni Luvhengo says the Department of Social Development was involved in the process.
“We have engaged with the Department of Social Development. Based on the discussion that they had at the interviews that they had with the children, they found that three children obviously had one parent, and then the other children also had parents that were travelling with them, because there was a confirmation that they had parents,” he said.
“We didn’t place them under a place of safety. We had to, unfortunately, deport them together with their parents, because they didn’t have all the travel documentation,” said Luvhengo.
—SABC—
