Eight boys have been rescued from a Chinese-owned factory in the small town of Nigel in South Africa's Gauteng province. Social workers from the Department of Social Development in the province are in the process of repatriating the children.

The victims, aged between 13 and 17, are part of a group of 15 children recruited by the company's driver in Gaza province, Mozambique. They entered the neighboring country on 15 January. When they were rescued, the children were sent to the Mary Moodley Child and Youth Reception Center in Benoni.

The police found the eight Mozambican boys during a search operation launched by the Ministry of Labor and Employment after it received a tip-off in January that a factory belonging to a Chinese citizen in Nigel was employing foreign and undocumented children.

The Department has opened a case for child labor, poor working conditions and the employment of undocumented minors against the owner of the electricity supply company in Nigel.