Sixty-year-old Mpumalanga farmer Cornelis Johannes Uys and his 23-year-old son Cornelis Johannes Albertus Uys remain behind bars after they were arrested on Sunday on suspicion of involvement in human trafficking.
The pair were remanded in custody on Monday when they appeared before the Belfast Magistrate Court.
The arrest of Cornelis Johannes Uys and Cornelis Johannes Albertus Uys followed that of two other suspects.
Narrating events leading to the weekend arrest of the farmer and his son, Captain Dineo Lucy Sekgotodi said a multidisciplinary law enforcement team arrested brothers 34-year-old Carlos Bernardo Guambe and 32-year-old Gabriel Bernardo Guambe for allegedly trafficking people from Mozambique to South Africa.
Police investigations revealed that the accused brought people from Mozambique illegally into South Africa. The trafficked persons had to cross a river to get to the South African side before taking a taxi to Lydenburg.
Allegations are Cornelis Johannes Albertus Uys and a suspected trafficker allegedly met with the taxi driver and paid him before the trafficked persons were released.
The trafficked persons were then taken to a farm owned by Cornelis Johannes Uys, where they were allegedly put to work.
However, investigations into human trafficking in the area led law enforcers to a farm, where 39 people were found to have been trafficked for labour purposes.
Seven women, nine children – under the age of five – and 23 adult males were rescued from a farm in Dullstroom, in Mpumalanga, during a multidisciplinary operation by members of Nelspruit Serious Organised Crime, Flying Squad, Department of Labour and Home Affairs.
All the freed persons were taken to a safe place in Witbank.
Following the investigations, authorities arrested the Guambe brothers for human Trafficking and contravening the Immigration Act. They appeared in court and were both remanded in custody.
On Monday, the brothers joined their co-accused father and son pair at Belfast Magistrate Court.
The matter was adjourned to next week, Monday, 11 July 2022.
