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- Two brothers have been given three-month sentences for contravention of the Immigration Act.
- Carlos Bernardo Guambe and Gabriel Bernardo Guambe pleaded guilty to being in the country illegally.
- The two are serving their sentence as they await their trial for their alleged involvement in human trafficking.
Two brothers who were allegedly caught trafficking Mozambicans into South Africa in June have been sentenced to three months imprisonment for being in the country illegally.
Carlos Bernardo Guambe, 34, and Gabriel Bernardo Guambe, both from Mozambique, were arrested in June for a human trafficking operation at a farm in Dullstroom, Mpumalanga, where 39 people - including seven women, nine children under the age of five, and 23 men - were rescued.
The brothers were charged with trafficking, and were then discovered to be in the country illegally. Additional charges of contravening the Immigration Act were then added.
The brothers, who had previously abandoned their bail application for the alleged involvement in the human trafficking operation, appeared in the Belfast Magistrate's Court on Friday.
Mpumalanga Hawks spokesperson Captain Dineo Lucy Sekgotodi said the two were found guilty and each sentenced to three months imprisonment or a R5 000 fine.
She said they were serving their sentences alongside the 60-year-old Cornelis Johannes Uys and his son Cornelis Johannes Albertus Uys - their co-accused who are still awaiting their bail hearing.
While the two brothers were arrested in June, the father and son were only arrested in the following months.
She added:
The modus operandi
According to Sekgotodi, the 39 victims were recruited from Mozambique and brought to South Africa in a taxi for job opportunities.
She said they had been transported from Mozambique to the South African border in a taxi. They then had to cross a river into South Africa, and were then taken by the taxi to Lydenburg in Mpumalanga.
Cornelis and one of the brothers allegedly met with the taxi driver and paid him money in exchange for the victims, who were then taken to their farm for labour, said Sekgotodi.
She said they were rescued from a farm in Dullstrom by members of the Mbombela-based Hawks’ Serious Organised Crime Investigation, Flying Squad, and the departments of labour and home affairs.
