Angry community members in Rietspruit, Kliprivier in the Vaal, protested outside a plot belonging to a religious school where they claim 14 children were found on Monday. The residents complained that the children aged between 6 and 13 years looked very malnourished and scared when they were rescued.

On Monday a community member blew the whistle when he came across a boy who was injured and limping during school hours. The boy had allegedly escaped from the plot after being abducted that same morning. "You could see in the boy's eyes that he was scared but was desperate to get home to his mother. He told me that the occupants of a grey car with tinted windows took him from outside his gate when he was waiting for transport to go to school in the morning. He said there were five dodgy-looking men in the car and they kept his mouth covered until they arrived at the plot but he was lucky he managed to escape," he said. The whistleblower told ZiMoja that after dropping off the boy with his mother, he mobilised the community and alerted them of what he discovered. "Later that day, the boy showed us where they kept the other kids,".

Another community member, Mmatau Mokgotsi said she came across the mother of the boy who confirmed what the boy told the community. "The mother was still shaken so she didn't say much, however, we immediately knew as a community that our children were not safe. So we mobilised and went to the plot. When we got there, we forced entry and came across a man who said we were not allowed to be there. We didn't listen to him and instead went straight to backrooms where we found children hiding underneath a bed," she said. She added that the boys and girls looked frail. " Some of them were crying and ran towards us. One of the kids even had a blue eye. We made sure that the police took them and kept them safe until their parents came to claim them," she said. 

A community leader Mziyeni Mtshali said he understood the frustration of the community, however, the children were enrolled in a religious school. "Four parents came forward and claimed to have given consent for their kids to be there. However the police and the community agreed that it's not a place to keep children, it's unhygienic, they don't have proper food and the so-called religious school is not even registered," he said. 

Colonel Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi said there is no truth in the voice note messages circulating on social media platforms about an alleged kidnapping or human trafficking incident in the Kliprivier area. " On Monday, 21 August 2023, the police in Kliprivier received a complaint of mob justice at Rietspruit, and upon arrival, they found the owner of an Islamic Foundation, who alleged that community members are accusing him of kidnapping children. The children are reported to be staying at the foundation with four caregivers and they attend studies after school and on weekends," She said the Department of Social Development was called in and it was established that the 16 children be voluntarily brought to the foundation by their parents to attend Islamic studies. No criminal case has been opened.