South Africa: Pastor and Wife Arrested After 200 People Found at Illegal Rehabilitation Centre

About 200 people, including more than 30 women, were found on October 15, 2026, at an unregistered rehabilitation centre in Waterval B, in South Africa’s Mpumalanga province. The 59-year-old pastor who ran the centre and his 58-year-old wife were arrested the next day after claiming they housed only 60 people. Inspectors reported overcrowded rooms, patients with wounds across their bodies, and some occupants chained together, describing the conditions as “grossly inhumane.” The couple faces kidnapping charges and is due to appear in the Mdutjana magistrate’s court on October 19; police may add further charges.