Baby sold for R2 500 and an air conditioner

A young, unemployed mother of four has testified how a woman she befriended at a KZN hospital disappeared with her baby.

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Durban - A young, unemployed mother of four has testified how a woman she had befriended in hospital and later entrusted with her 6-month-old baby while she quickly went to a shop with her 2-year-old, disappeared with the baby.

It is alleged that Tazley Msweli, 48, had introduced Sibongile Ndimande, 41, as a social worker to the young mother in October 2014 and had promised her food and nappies for her children.

It is further alleged that the mother had to go with the women to Pinetown to meet another social worker who had these items for her.

While waiting outside a shop in Pinetown for the second social worker to arrive, the mother’s 2-year-old started crying, so Msweli apparently gave the mother R10 to buy the child something to eat and drink.

“She told me to leave the small one with her because my 2-year-old was crying. So I left my baby with her and carried my other child to the shop,” the young mother, who cannot be named because it would identify her minor children, told the Pinetown Regional Court on Wednesday.

The court heard the women had then sold the 6-month-old baby to a couple for R2 500 and an air conditioner.

Msweli and Ndimande, both from Inchanga, were arrested five months later and the baby was returned to the mother.

The women on Wednesday pleaded not guilty to charges which included human trafficking, kidnapping a minor, corruption, and fraud.

Msweli’s defence, read out to the court by her lawyer, advocate Veryan Reding, was that Msweli met the mother at St Mary’s Hospital in June 2014.

She said the young woman had told her that when her child was discharged, she wanted to throw the baby in a river because he was always sick.

Afraid for the baby, Msweli said she advised the mother to see a social worker to sort out food and nutrition for the baby. She said the mother refused to go to the social worker because if she gave the baby to the social worker, she would not see her child after three months.

Msweli claimed she referred her to another woman to help and disputed the allegations in the charge sheet.

State advocate Val Dafel then called the 28-year-old mother to testify.

She said she had never seen Ndimande before October 29, 2014, when Msweli brought her to her house.

She said her son had been in hospital in June because of nose and chest problems. She had stayed with him for the week and met Msweli then.

Msweli later introduced her to Ndimande.

“I believed (Ndimande) was a social worker because she was very well dressed and also because she came with (Msweli). I believed they wanted to help me. I needed the nappies especially, not the food,” she testified.

During the time her son was missing, she said, she could not eat or sleep and wondered whether he was dead or alive.

On March 3 last year, police took her to a clinic where she identified Msweli, who was taken in for questioning.

Msweli pointed out Ndimande and told them where the child was.

She denied consenting to giving her child up for adoption or to asking them to care for her child.

Under cross-examination, she said that at the time her baby was kidnapped, life was a struggle because her fiance had part-time jobs and she was unemployed.

She denied keeping in contact with Msweli after she was discharged and asking for her help.

The trial continues on Thursday with the woman who allegedly paid for the baby expected to testify.

noelene.barbeau@inl.co.za

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