Tow truck driver hopes to adopt dumped baby

A Durban father of six is anxiously waiting for the court to decide whether he can legally adopt a baby girl that was dumped on his doorstep.

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Durban - An oThongathi tow truck operator and father of six is crossing his fingers that he is able to adopt a baby girl that was dumped on his flat doorstep last week.

Ismail Mitha, 37, said the newborn baby was wrapped in a blanket and placed in a green canvas shopping bag and left on a stairway leading to his block of flats in Arbee Arcade, on Gopalall Hurbans Road.

A businessman walking past spotted the bag and decided to have a look inside.

He noticed the head of a baby sticking out from under a blanket. Her umbilical cord was still attached.

The baby was taken to the Osindisweni Clinic and given a clean bill of health.

Ismail Mitha, of Big Show Towing, won temporary guardianship of the baby from the Tongaat Social Welfare Department on Monday.

The baby, which had been issued with a temporary birth certificate, was named Owami Gumede, which Mitha hopes to change to Rahmah.

He will be at the Tongaat Magistrate’s Court on March 29 for the final decision.

“The clinic is 500 metres away, but the person left her for dead on the steps. She is a survivor. I love kids. The baby has been receiving quite a few visitors.”

“We have been grateful to have been sponsored clothes and food. We are getting attached to her. We have been told there is a list of people on the adoption waiting list. We are anxious,” Mitha said

Mitha and his wife, Ayesha, have six children of their own; Aadilah, 20; Rommanah, 13; Aakifah, 11; Muhammed, 9; Ahmed, 8 and Abdullah, 5.

zainul.dawood@inl.co.za

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