South Africa intercepts buses carrying more than 400 unaccompanied children from Zimbabwe

By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME
Associated Press

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Border officials in South Africa say they have intercepted dozens of buses carrying more than 400 young children from Zimbabwe without parents or legal guardians in an anti-trafficking operation. The officials say the children were being “trafficked” into South Africa, although an organization representing foreign nationals living in South Africa says it’s likely the children were being sent for the end of year holidays to visit their parents who are working in South Africa. The buses were sent back to Zimbabwe. More than 1 million Zimbabweans live in South Africa, many of them illegally, having moved to their southern neighbor over the past 15 years to escape Zimbabwe’s economic turmoil.