Verulam kids removed from home after girl ‘shackled’ with metal chain
KZN Social Development says it's removed two children from their mother's care in Verulam, north of Durban, following reports of abuse.
The department responded to complaints from residents, who alleged that they found one of the children chained inside her Redcliffe home over the weekend.
They are reported to have seen the seven-year-old girl shackled with a metal chain to a rafter through the window.
According to Reaction Unit South Africa, the child's mother is said to have left in the morning.
The Department of Social Development’s spokesperson Mhlabunzima Memela says security officers rescued the woman from an angry mob at Sandpit informal settlement on Sunday.
The children have been taken to a safe house at the Verulam Welfare Centre.
"They have relatives in the area of Ndwendwe that the organisation consider to place them. We are very concerned about what exactly happened to these kids and the abuse of children.
"Their rights are being violated, and the department has also taken a decision to follow up on this matter so that the mother of these kids is also being taken into a parental programme."
