Chained captives freed from alleged Diepsloot ‘rehab centre’

What is believed to be a shanty rehabilitation centre outside Diepsloot was raided yesterday and nine captives freed by local security companies and law enforcement.

They were chained to large metal blocks inside metal shacks in heatwave temperatures.

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Customers at a nearby hardware store noticed a woman, chained up, walking aimlessly in an adjacent field and called in a local security company.

The police later arrived and then the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) joined the scene.

According to the concerned citizen, there were mutilated chicken carcasses lying around and a security officer later confirmed that several stashes of goods looking like muti were found.

There were three structures housing the captives and no clear ablution facilities, bar filthy buckets filled with excrement.

The officer said there was no drinking water available, either. According to private security personnel on the scene, freed victims were reluctant to be released.

“They lived in fear of the church that kept them in their cage-like circumstances,” an officer told The Citizen.

He described wounds on a shirtless man who was allegedly continually whipped for apparently being caught by the church smoking dagga.

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Another was allegedly accused of possession of dagga. An elderly woman apparently said she was accused of being mentally disturbed and a man allegedly said he did not know why he was chained up. The group said they were also made to harvest grass from nearby fields which would then be sold as thatching.

“Nobody was willing to name the sect of Christians responsible for their torture and it seemed as if they were incredibly frightened of their captors,” said the officer.

“Medics helped us unchain them – some shackles were so tight they could hardly walk when freed,” he said.

“One woman’s leg was so swollen she couldn’t move at all.” Witnesses said there was evidence of religious rituals and a law enforcement presence remained on-site for most of the day.

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“We don’t know whether this relates to human trafficking at this point,” said the officer. “All we know is there were elements of forced labour, torture and immense suffering in these makeshift prisons.

“People were clearly so broken by the ongoing activity that their reticence and fear to leave evidenced some aspects of Stockholm syndrome.”

The captives were taken for medical treatment and authorities are investigating.