Durban — A Good Samaritan told how he rescued a newborn baby dumped in the bush, in the sweltering heat, in Phoenix, north of Durban on Monday.
Farouk Bobat, 59, said his wife Nazima was hanging clothes on the line when she thought she could hear a baby crying.
There is a bushy verge between Bobat’s back wall and Phoenix Highway.
“We wanted to see what was going on, so I opened my balcony and saw two men.
“I asked them if they could look in that area for me as they were close,” said Bobat.
Farouk said the men reached a conclusion that it was the cry of baby kittens.
“I asked them to continue walking further, they saw a packet on the floor, in the bushes, and then they saw a baby in that packet.
“The guy held his head and cried ‘Baby! Baby!” said Bobat.
The baby was unclothed, so Bobat threw a bed sheet down to the men to cover it.
A short while later private ambulance KZN VIP Protection Services and SAPS arrived.
Paramedics cleaned the baby and took him to Mahatma Gandhi Hospital in Phoenix. Bobat mentioned that on Monday was the beginning of the holy month of Rajab.
Nazima said: “It was meant for us to hear it and do something about it.”
Domestic worker Sibongile Mpahla said she arrived at work in the morning and while she was cleaning, she heard her boss thanking God.
“I wondered why she kept saying ‘thank God’ and then I heard that my boss called the neighbour and asked about what was that sound – whether it was a cat or a child?” said Mpahla.
She said that the neighbour – Farouk Bobat – “instructed the guys” to stay there with the baby so he could drive there and provide it with care.
Mpahla also gave the Bobat family advice on how to deal with a newborn baby and said she suggested they give the baby sweet water.
Mpahla said she was emotional when she heard about it and wondered how on Earth could someone do something as painful as “dumping their child like that”?
“A child is innocent,” said Mpahla.
Another resident, Nikita Ramasir, said she became very emotional and provided the baby with milk.
“It really hurt me because if it were my child, I would not know what I would be doing, but I know I would never ever do that,” said Ramasir.
She was concerned for the baby’s health and if “something had bitten the baby because he was naked”.
“The baby was dehydrated and sunburnt with no clothes,” said Ramasir.
Police spokesperson Constable Thenjiswa Ngcobo said Phoenix police were investigating a case of child abandonment. Police are searching for the mother.
Daily News