By Leila Samodien
A newborn baby boy was pulled alive from a manhole near Killarney Gardens by a truck driver who had earlier seen a woman cradling an infant at the drain.
Desmond Mutengo, 24, found the child in a 1.5m-deep manhole, almost completely submerged in dirty water. The child is three to five days old.
Police are now seeking the woman.
A police source said the baby, wearing a wet, yellow babygro, was a little blue, dehydrated and cold, but stable.
The discovery follows the death of a six-week-old baby who was found under corrugated iron sheets in Green Point informal settlement last week. His 17-year-old mother, who claimed he had been stolen at a clinic, was later arrested for murder.
Mutengo almost certainly saved the newborn’s life.
The driver was in his truck in the industrial area of Sati and Potsdam roads when he spotted the woman and her baby at about 3.30pm on Friday.
She was sitting at the edge of the manhole, with her back to the road, her head down and a tiny baby in her arms.
“She was just sitting there, wrapping the baby in blankets,” said Mutengo. “It didn’t look right and I told my co-driver that she looked suspicious.”
Mutengo and his colleague dropped off a couple of containers at a nearby depot. When they drove past the manhole again about 20 minutes later, the woman was gone.
“We almost drove past it, but my gut told me to stop,” he said.
As Mutengo approached the hole, he heard cries from below.
The baby was at the bottom of the drain, just to the right of the square opening. Apart from his face he was entirely submerged in dirty water.
“He was crying and his voice was very faint. That just broke my heart,” said Mutengo.
He pulled the baby out, called the police and a nearby security guard, then took off the baby’s wet clothes and wrapped him in a jacket.
“I have a four-year-old son of my own. Seeing someone do something like that to a little baby hurts,” he said. “He was left for dead in cold, filthy water. That’s not human.”
Mutengo could not describe the woman because her head was down.
The baby was taken to a safe house and his temporary foster mother said yesterday he was in good shape.
“He’s a chubby, healthy newborn boy,” she said.
Weekend Argus saw the baby – a dark-eyed boy with a full head of curly black hair and a light complexion. He appeared lively and healthy.
The foster mother said it was clear the baby had been born in hospital because he had a puncture in his left foot from which blood had been drawn.
Police spokeswoman Warrant Officer Elizabeth Munro said a case of “abandonment of a child” had been opened.
She appealed to anyone with information to contact their nearest police station or call 10111.
Meanwhile experts have warned that South Africa does not have enough health and psychological support available to teenage mothers.
But Cape Town Child Welfare executive head Niresh Ramklass said that when women did not want their babies, there were alternatives available to them.
“There are enough options such as adoption and foster care. We’ve placed 17 000 babies through adop-tion since we were established.”
The organisation recently said 500 to 600 Cape Town children – mostly babies – were abandoned within a one-year period. Most of the babies had young mothers with little support from school and home, and none at all from the children’s fathers.
Ramklass said in some cases women who killed their babies genuinely believed the babies would be better off.
Marion Stevens, a consultant for women’s health rights group WISH, said 30 percent of women experienced post-natal depression.
She said a combination of factors led women to dump or kill their babies, but the signs could be picked up beforehand.
There was also a lack of access to sexual reproductive health in South Africa, ranging from contraception and pregnancy tests to health services that allowed for counselling and abortion.
Cape Town-based gender specialist Sally Shackleton said young people needed options, even before they fell pregnant. Girls who fell pregnant often were not given the necessary support – they were embarrassed at school, the father of the baby did not take responsibility, their schooling was disrupted and they were afraid of disappointing their parents.
“One of the biggest problems we have is that we don’t have enough access to services,” she said. “A much greater emphasis needs to be placed on services, options and psychological support for young, pregnant mothers.” - Weekend Argus