This is as 30 of 50 under-age children that were trafficked from 28 villages in the area to work as seasonal farm-workers, are still missing.

This is the same area, were under-age girls were found to be pregnant or had recently given birth, in 2016.

Most had dropped out of school and were fending for themselves on local farms.

The Ratlou Municipality south of Mahikeng which consists of 28 villages and a number of commercial farms is one of the country's impoverished municipalities.

It has a 69% unemployment rate, and those that can find employment, work as seasonal farm-labourers.

The municipality has a population of over 100 000, but only 28% are literate.

In 2016, the Ministry of Social Development discovered that over 3000 under-age girls were either pregnant or had recently given birth.

In one case, a 10-year-old had a one year old baby. In August over 250 people, including 50 underage children were rescued on Free State farms where they were used as seasonal labours.

The MEC for Social Development, Hofman Galeng, says due to poverty and other social problems all children in the Ratlou Municipality remain vulnerable.

"The children of Ratlou Municipality are very vulnerable and they have to admit that, because of poverty and it’s very much unfortunate."

"There are people who decided to do business with human traffickers. We are still experiencing that. We need to go all out as the government because there's a very serious problem in Ratlou."
As the international community observes World Food Week,the South African Human Rights' Commission has visited the area.

It found that most households have no food or documentation and are living in abject poverty.

Some households are also child-headed. Local reports also confirmed that large numbers of learners are dropping out of school.

Among the reasons are teenage pregnancies or having to earn a living working on the local farms.

The Commission says it has instituted investigations against the officials of the Social Development Department and other government agencies, on possible violation of human rights in the province.

Meanwhile, the NPA in the Free State has confirmed that there are more under-age children from the North West working in the Free State.

This comes as the Social Development Department says 30 of the 50 under-age children are still missing.

Source: SABC