Hundreds of Mozambican miners return to South Africa

A group of 300 Mozambican miners have returned to South Africa to resume their jobs.

Most of the mine workers had been forced to return to their country because of coronavirus restrictions.

This is the second group of Mozambican miners to be called back to South African mines in less than 10 days.

The first one, of more than 200 miners from AngloGold Ashanti, returned to South Africa a week ago, but are in quarantine for 14 days to ensure that they are free of Covid-19.

Juca Bata, the spokesman for Mozambique's National Migration Service said all miners were tested for Covid-19 before departure and will also be tested on the South African side.

About 12,000 Mozambican miners, mostly from the southern provinces of the country, work in South African mines.

South Africa shut down mines across the country in March as the government announced a nationwide lockdown. The restrictions have since been eased.