Hundreds of babies killed annually

South Africa has one of the world’s highest reported homicide rates involving babies.

A first national study by the Medical Research Council of SA and the University of Cape Town released this week has declared the annual killing of hundreds of newborns and infants to be a serious social and public health problem.

Mothers were identified as the perpetrators in all of the neonaticides and were the most common perpetrators overall,’ the researchers write in the international peer-reviewed journal PLOS Medicine. The SA National Child Homicide Study declares that there is a

critical need for intervention to assist vulnerable mothers.

Northern KwaZulu Natal has not been without its own share of baby killing drama, the most recent being a story that was reported by the Northern Natal Courier regarding a one-year-old baby that was stabbed and raped on April 20.

Two men aged 19 and 20 were arrested and charged with attempted murder and rape.

Although the baby did not die, she sustained serious injuries and was taken to Madadeni Hospital where she remained in a critical condition in ICU.

In September 2014, a foetus was found in the drainage system at the Mtiki area in Mondlo.

According to a group of municipal workers who found the foetus which had been crudely disposed of in one of the drains and reported the matter to Mondlo SAPS immediately, it was unclear when the baby had died nor how it had gotten to the system.

There is not information on motives for abandoning newborns, and so it is not known whether babies are left to die or in the hope that they will be found alive. The abandoned neonates are commonly discovered in garbage and refuse

dumps and public spaces.

Homicide of children is a global problem but it is often not considered a priority against competing public health challenges. A 2014 UNICEF report concluded that the under-five-year age group is the second largest homicide group after 15-19 year olds.

This, first, SA National Child Homicide Study found 40% of all child homicides among the under-five-year group.

The matter seems to be demanding attention and the SAPS say that those found guilty of such an offence will be dealt with accordingly.

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