Police evacuate children from cult home

Mzimkhulu, South Africa - Mzimkhulu police and social workers have started the process of evacuating dozens of children being kept at a homestead on the outskirts of the Eastern Cape Town.

The children are aged between three and 20 years. The home is apparently run by a church group, calling itself Crusade. It's members say the children were brought there by their parents with unspecified sicknesses.

Social workers found the children had been kept there under appalling conditions, and none of them appeared sick. These social workers could not get clear details from the children because they could not speak properly nor could they recall how long they had been at the home. They believe the children were being fed muti.

The man who runs the home was not present upon the police's arrival, apparently having gone to Pietermaritzburg. The children will be moved to a place of safety outside Matatiele.