Thirty-nine human trafficking victims have been rescued from a farm in Belfast in Mpumalanga.

The victims include seven women, nine children under the age of five, and 23 men.

Two suspects were arrested on Friday during the rescue and they were due to appear in the Belfast Magistrate’s Court on Monday.

Hawks spokesperson Colonel Katlego Mogale said information gathered at the scene was that the victims were “brought into South Africa in a taxi from Mozambique until Lydenburg where allegedly the son of the farm owner and one trafficker will meet the taxi driver (and) then pay.

The victims will then be brought on the farm for labour”.

Mogale said the victims will be kept at a place of safety in Witbank.