Cato Manor woman rescues discarded baby

THE thought of losing her new job did not bother Londiwe Ndlovu, who witnessed a woman dumping a two week-old baby at the back of a panel beater’s property, and instead of going to work, went to rescue the baby.

Ndlovu said it was about 9.25am on Saturday, 21 July, when she saw a lady rushing towards her direction carrying a baby.

“Although she was still a few metres away from me, I could see that she was upset and crying. At that moment I was still surprised and hoping to get some answers. She just went inside a panel beater’s property and into a shack there, threw the baby down and ran away.

“I ran after her, screaming. When I caught up with her she was hysterical. I asked her why she dumped the baby and she said because the baby cries all the time and the dad refuses to take any responsibility.

Ndlovu picked up the baby.

“The woman told me the baby’s dad works at the panel beaters and does not want to pay maintenance. The man was called and he denied that he was the father.

“I thought to myself, I could not leave this woman there and give her the baby back as she might go and dump the child somewhere else so I decide to call the police.

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The police arrived and took the three of us: me, the ‘dad’ and the mother to the police station to give statements.

“I was fairly new at work and had not even received my first pay, so coming to work late with such a huge excuse was going to be so difficult for me. I asked the police officers to accompany me back to work and vouch for me.

The reason Ndlovu said she dropped everything when she witnessed this incident is because she worked at a police station in 2016 while serving her internship.

“I use to work with the social crime prevention and I would witness such things. Most of the time you would find dumped babies dead and that use to tear my heart apart. I could have lost my job, but I thought about the innocent life, that baby could have died in there as there are chemicals around there.”

She said anything could have happened to that baby girl and she would not have forgiven herself if she ignored the incident and continued to work.

Ndlovu said she believes she was supposed to be there at that time.

“I am still so happy to know that I saved a life. I truly see myself as a hero.

The Pavilion DisChem employee thanked the store manager, Dario Almeida, for the way he welcomed her even though she arrived late.

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“He made me feel welcome and special, he truly commended my bravery and was so proud,” she said.

Cato Manor communications officer, Capt Christopher Sibiya, confirmed the incident and said the mother was released with a warning.

“Police dealing with this matter spoke to her about the seriousness of her case. The baby was given back to her and police and social workers will be keeping tabs on her to see if she is fit to look after the baby.”

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