Durban - KwaZulu-Natal police have dismissed as fake news a social media post doing the rounds that claim two women - a mother and daughter - have been arrested for dumping a newborn baby in a drain in Newlands East this week.
Colonel Thembeka Mbele, police spokesperson, said no arrests had made. She said if there were arrests, police would alert the public.
The fake news post comes in the wake of a groundswell of public sympathy for the infant who was found in a stormwater drain on Monday.
The baby’s rescue was a collaborative effort from numerous services that included, Metro police, Saps and Fire department among others. These services had responded to calls from Newlands East resident, Lyron Lovedale, who first heard the cries of the infant in the drain and sounded the alarm.
Politicians like KwaZulu-Natal department of health MEC Sibongiseni Dhlomo and eThekwini mayor, Zandile Gumede, visited the infant in the hospital.
Community members from Newlands East had expressed anger at the dumping of the baby and said that there were so many places the newborn could have been taken to where she could have been looked after.