Gauteng Department of Social Development cancels baby savers
“We also learned during the meeting that there is potential for us to work together with DSD, and a week or so later, they made the directive official."
The Gauteng Department of Social Development has decided to shut down all baby savers used by care centres.
The DSD stated that the act of dumping a baby is illegal, despite baby savers being operational in the country for 25 years.
“These babies are not being dumped but rather are being protected by their mothers because several circumstances like rape and poverty lead women to relinquish their children,” said Bronwynn Engelbrecht, the DA’s Gauteng spokesperson for the Department of Social Development.
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“MEC Mbali Hlophe must be sensitive to this reality.”
According to Engelbrecht, mothers across the province have sought help from hospitals, social workers and police stations but have, on numerous occasions, been turned away.
“This has, in the past, led to the discovery of babies in pit toilets, parking lots and dumping sites. We do not want this desperate act to continue, so we propose that the department collaborate with the baby savers facilities.”
“The work of the baby savers has, in return, protected the babies’ constitutional right to life. DSD has failed miserably in this regard, and instead of working together with NPOs to save these abandoned babies, they are snuffing out any potential an abandoned baby has for a life of fulfilment and purpose,” she added.
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Engelbrecht stated that they demand the MEC to re-evaluate the department’s decision and reverse this senseless decision and instead provide these babies with an environment where they can flourish.
“This department must stop victimising NPOs who are fulfilling a crucial role in linking the many desperate and disadvantaged with a life of normality where they can feel safe.
“We will submit questions to the MEC to ascertain why these facilities are being forced to close and why the department is not collaborating with NPOs and providing them with the support they need to fulfil this crucial role,” said Engelbrecht.
Whitney Rosenburg, co-founder and chairperson of BSSA (Baby Saver South Africa), said they are aware of the closing down of the baby savers.
“We met with the department before they officially approved the directive, so we are aware of it.
“We also learned during the meeting that there is potential for us to work together with DSD, and a week or so later, they made the directive official.
“We are shocked by this motion because we believe baby savers protect children’s rights to life and human dignity. It is better for babies to be left in a baby saver than in the field, in a toilet, or in a garbage, as we frequently read in the press,” said Rosenburg.
She said that the sad reality is that there are no alternatives available for mothers.
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Rosenburg stated that the DSD alleged that there was an alternative, mainly for a mother to drop her child off at a police station, hospital, or nurse.
“We also know that this isn’t possible as mothers are judged, turned away by nurses and police, and terrified to leave their babies in fear of being arrested by the authorities. The options that the DSD are alleging are available are really not functional in this case.
“In the absence of baby savers, which have been around since 1999, the actual wall-mounted box.
“Our organisation was established in 2021 and is an overseeing body for a national coalition of organisations. We advise members who have installed baby savers in their facilities on how to maintain these savers.
“The unfortunate truth is that mothers who find themselves alone and desperate will have to resort to abandoning their infants in fields or public restrooms if this baby savers are not available,” said Rosenburg.
Liezl Linda van der Merwe, MP for the IFP and spokesperson on social development, said parties have long been engaging on the issue of unsafe abandonment of babies at a national Parliamentary level with the DSD.
According to Van Der Merwe, there are no annual statistics available.
“In 2010, Child Welfare SA estimated that more than 3 500 babies had been abandoned that year alone.
This heart-breaking phenomenon is not the practice of hardened criminals, often those abandoning babies are mere children themselves, or the pregnancies are the product of abuse or GBV.
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“They often have nowhere to turn to and nobody to help them,” said Van Der Merwe.
“While we respect the rule of law and the provisions in the Children’s Act relating to parental responsibilities and child abandonment, let us not act in a manner that will further harm vulnerable children.”
“We support the organisations that are a part of the national coalition of baby savers because they have been actively working to end the unsafe abandoning of infants for a long time.
“Child abandonment is happening now despite it being illegal. Removing what is possibly the only chance of survival that these babies have, will not help to end unsafe child abandonment, it will only exacerbate the situation,” said Van Der Merwe.
