{"id":2202221,"date":"2026-10-16T13:09:43","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T10:09:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2202221"},"modified":"2026-10-16T13:09:43","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T10:09:43","slug":"mpumalanga-rehab-centre-south-african-police-rescue-200-people-some-in-chains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2202221","title":{"rendered":"Mpumalanga rehab centre: South African police rescue 200 people, some in chains"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/6ae2\/live\/aea9db50-c950-11f1-8879-9d9deeb686e1.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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\"DepartmentDepartment of social development<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Officials uncovered “gross inhuman conditions” when they raided the centre<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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A pastor and his wife have been arrested in South Africa after 200 people, some in chains, were found held at a suspected illegal rehabilitation centre in the north-eastern part of the country.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The facility, operated from a church in Mpumalanga province, was discovered during an operation by officials in the area on Thursday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Authorities said they uncovered “gross inhumane conditions” when they raided the facility, with some patients found with “sores all over their bodies” and “others chained to each other”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Police have since charged the couple, who were running the facility, with kidnapping but could add more charges. They have not yet commented.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Illegal rehabilitation centres have mushroomed in South Africa in recent years as drug use spirals in the country.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Last year, the department of social development said it had uncovered over 100 unlawful facilities operating across the country, mostly in Gauteng province, home to the country’s largest city, Johannesburg.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A girl of 16 and a boy of 11 were found being kept in the same room as adults in the Mpumalanga centre.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"SouthSouth Africa Police Service<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Two minors were among the 200 people found living in crowded rooms at the facility<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The couple running it told officials they were housing 60 people, but upon inspection, more than three times that number were found, including more than 30 women.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The group, mostly believed to be drug addicts, were found in crowded rooms and without access to functioning bathrooms or running water.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“Some [of them had] been at the alleged illegal centre for a while,” the department said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Gift Skhosana, one of those held at the facility, told local broadcaster Newzroom Afrika it was “common practice” for patients to be chained.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“They chain us as punishment [and] when you gain entry,” he said. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Despite this, Skhosana, who was a drug user, said the facility helped him get clean and overcome his addiction.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Another person, who was not named, said his experience with the facility left him needing help mentally.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The couple charged a monthly fee of 3,000 rand ($182; \u00a3137) to house the patients, of which almost a half would go to the church.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Fourteen of those found at the centre have since been taken to hospital for further medical treatment, police said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Officials said 132 have been reunited with their families. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The couple is expected to appear in a local court on Monday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"To<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Go to <\/i>BBCAfrica.com<\/i> for more news from the African continent.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Follow us on Twitter <\/i>@BBCAfrica<\/i>, on Facebook at <\/i>BBC Africa<\/i> or on Instagram at <\/i>bbcafrica<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cmwyvxj49gpwo”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/6ae2\/live\/aea9db50-c950-11f1-8879-9d9deeb686e1.jpg”] Department of social development Officials uncovered “gross inhuman conditions” when they raided the centre A pastor and his wife have been arrested in South Africa after 200 people, some in chains, were found held at a suspected illegal rehabilitation centre in the north-eastern part of the country. The facility, operated from a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[35,226],"class_list":["post-2202221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-bbc-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2202221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2202221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2202221\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2202221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2202221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2202221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}