Community distances themselves from the foetuses found in their drainage system
“It looks like we forgot about our cultures, customs and values. What kind of society allow such things to happen?”
Foetuses and even newborns found in drains and manholes are a regular occurrence in Mandela Section, eMbalenhle.
Residents, however, believe the babies were discarded elsewhere and carried along the effluent to this part of the township.
Community members attending a Nelson Mandela Day celebration organised by the Men’s Voice disputed that the infants are from the Mandela Section.
Zakhele Masilela, treasurer of Men’s Voice, said they are concerned about the increased number of foetuses discarded in either the drainage system or an open veld.
Masilela said they find a foetus or new born every week in all sections of in eMbalenhle. He also referred to a recent incident where a baby’s body was spotted in a stream in the area.
“It looks like we forgot about our culture, customs and values. What kind of society allows such things?”
Masilela said he was not accusing anyone, but he needed answers.
“We know each other and know when someone is pregnant, but we don’t question it when, after a few days, we see that the woman is no longer pregnant and there is no baby.
“Then the community finds a foetus in the neighbourhood’s drainage system the next day. The culprit stands with us watching, yet we keep quiet.”
Masilele said municipal employees working in the water and sanitation department are regularly exposed to trauma because they see a foetus almost daily when they have to unblock sewerage pipes and manholes.
Tony Mabizela, a resident of Mandela Section and a community leader, distanced his community from this cruelty.
He said not all foetuses found in Mandela stormwater drainage and sewer manholes are thrown in there by people from his section.
“Unfortunately, because Mandela Section’s sewer pipes are connected with those of the White City section and we are in a low-lying area, the little bodies easily flow down to the manholes in our area.
“People will blame our community while they did an illegal abortion in White City,” said Mabizela.
Other community members blamed the Govan Mbeki Municipality, saying the municipality does not apply its own by-laws because posters advertising illegal abortions are on every wall and the municipal mini-substation.
“What do you expect to happen? People think these abortions are legal because they advertise it, even on municipal infrastructure.”
Masilela encouraged women to go to legitimate clinics if they face difficulties or suspect they are pregnant while not ready to have babies.
He said statistics show about 1,9 million women fall pregnant yearly, of which 1,2 million pregnancies were unplanned.
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According to Masilela, more than 460 000 pregnancies end in abortion, either legally or illegally.
Traumatised witnesses to the most recent discovery of a tiny infant in the stream in Mandela Section sent photos to Ridge Times.
Other similar incidents that made headlines were the discovery of a burnt head and hand of a baby outside a home in Ext 15, and the body of an infant found inside a sewerage pipe when municipal workers unblocked a sewage line.
A nyope addict found a baby’s body in a bag in the storm water drain in Mandela Section last year. He thought the bag might contain valuables which he could sell for drug money.
Municipal employees also found a discarded baby while collecting waste in Ext 17 two years ago.
