A day-old baby boy was found abandoned in the toilets of the SASSA offices in Ermelo last Tuesday. The baby was found by a general cleaner who raised the alarm.
The infant was wrapped in a blanket and appeared to be in good health, but was taken to the Ermelo Provincial Hospital by Mpumalanga Emergency Medical Services personnel as a precautionary measure.
The child was examined and found to be healthy and placed in the care of the hospital.
Information received assisted police in establishing that the child’s mother had given birth to the infant the previous day at a house in Emadamini.
The child’s 18-year-old mother was subsequently arrested and appeared in the Ermelo Magistrate’s Court on charges of child neglect and abandonment.
In a previous incident a week earlier, a baby girl, about three days old, was found wrapped in plastic bags in Nederland Park.
Anyone with information that can assist the police in tracing the mother of the child is asked to contact Const MM Mafate of the police’s FCS Unit at 072 638 1652.
