SIYABUSWA - About 200 people have been found at an illegal rehabilitation centre in Waterval B, Siyabuswa with officials saying they were living in appalling conditions.
Those found include roughly 30 females and the rest being males at the centre which is allegedly managed by a Pastor and his wife.
The church leaders had claimed that they only accommodated 60 people. However, inspections carried out by officials of the Department of Social Development in Nkangala District on Thursday proved otherwise.
READ | Three arrested in KuGompo City after cops recover copper valued at R60k
This is according to Mpumalanga police spokesperson Donald Mdhluli in a statement on Thursday.
Mdhluli said officials from the Department of Environmental Health were summoned to the scene following various reports of environmental health contraventions at the premises.
“Preliminary information indicates that some of the people accommodated at the centre are from areas including Soweto, Springs, Rustenburg and other areas,” he added.
Circumstances surrounding the establishment and operation of the centre are being investigated.
“Should any contravention of the law be established, those responsible will be charged and held accountable,” Mdhluli said.
Mpumalanga authorities have discovery more than 150 people found chained inside an unregistered rehabilitation centre. Photo: Supplied by MP Department of Social Development.
Meanwhile, Mpumalanga Social Development's Matiwane Nkabinde said have been hot on the heels of illegal rehabilitation centres operating in Nkangala.
She said the department has been monitoring illegal facilities and has noted a familiar modus operandi which many allegedly use.
But what has been worrying, she said, are the conditions at the centre, the treatment of those staying there and how it was allowed to operate.
"We know about them, but most of them, they camouflage themselves under the expressions that they are a church," she said.
"What is a problem is that you are housing over 200 people as young as 14. You don't have a toilet, you are not having water, and they are chained...How do you then say it is a church and a healing process," Nkabinde questioned.
According to Nkabinde, department has made arrangements to have those found at the centre to be transported back home.
"The process is a bit tedious because we've got to phone the family member and tell the family member that we are releasing the person home and the person must confirm that they know the person and the person can come," she added.