Newborn baby found abandoned in refuse bag on veranda of EL home
A NEWBORN baby was found hidden in a black refuse bag on the veranda of an East London home on Saturday afternoon, with a note from his mother asking that the child be taken to a place of safety.
The note has done little to impress the police, who are now searching for the mother of the child to arrest her.
The three-day-old baby was found abandoned in the Haven Hills house of a 51-year-old school teacher shortly before 3pm.
Police spokesman Captain Nkosikho Mzuku said the baby was first spotted by four children who were visiting their friend at the teacher’s house.
“They knocked and, when the teacher opened, they informed her that there was a baby inside a black municipal refuse bag.
“The teacher opened the plastic bag and found the baby boy wrapped in a male T-shirt and a jacket. She called police who arrived on the scene and found a note inside bag,” Mzuku said.
The note, written in Xhosa, read: “Please take this child and take him to the police station. His father wants to sell him. I ran away with him [baby]. He will be looking for us. It’s better I die rather than him [baby] because he is innocent. I gave birth to him at 11am on 14 September 2017. God bless you. Thank you.”
Mzuku said the child was taken to hospital where he was named Ntando, meaning “Love”.
Mzuku said anyone with information could contact the East London Family Violence and Child Protection Unit on 043-722-9718.
● In an unrelated case, when Constable Khanyiswa Xezu started a normal night shift with her colleagues at the Mlungisi Police Station she never thought she would end up helping a woman give birth at the police station.
Xezu, 33, went from police officer to midwife when Thembakazi Ntsuku walked into the police station at 10pm on Thursday with her boyfriend.
The woman’s water had already broken and the baby’s head was already showing.
Though untrained for such events, Xezu sprang into action.
Xezu said she asked her boyfriend to help her put her on her side.
“As we put her on her side I noticed that the head of the child was already coming out. I then told all men to go out of the station and I was left with her. I helped deliver the baby and the ambulance arrived,” she said.
She said at first she was afraid but her commitment to help and serve the community gave her the strength to continue.
“This was my first experience and I will do it again if it means that I must help someone,” she said.
Xezu said they named the baby Gacs which is the system they use to file their cases.
“The mother was taken to Frontier Hospital. The following day Mlungisi police officers donated clothes to the boy,” she said.
Ntsuku thanked the police for saving her baby.
“If that police officer had not helped me, something could have happened to my child said.
Mlungisi police station commander Colonel Gcinikaya Taleni said what Xezu did fulfilled the police services’ mission and vision, which is to serve and protect the people.
“As police officers, we are everything that you can think of in the community we serve,” he said.
Taleni said Xezu was recently recognised in the Mlungisi station commander’s awards for her excellent work. — or me,” she