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Missing child found floating in a dam (Facebook)
- Wallacedene residents were picked up after the body of a missing 11-month-old baby was found floating in a dam.
- According to a community member, the mother had gone to visit her boyfriend.
- A 20-year-old woman is expected to appear in court charged with murder and child neglect.
An 11-month-old baby, who disappeared over the weekend, was found floating in a dam in the informal settlement of Wallacedene, near Kraaifontein.
Little Akhimbali Mafentile was reported missing on Sunday after his mother allegedly left him alone at their Marikana home that same day. The mother had allegedly asked a friend to take care of the child, but when she returned the next day, he was gone.
According to community member Lelethu Somtsewu, 40, the mother had gone to visit her boyfriend when she left her baby unattended.
Members of the Wallacedene community embarked on a search for little Akhimbali after his disappearance.
“A group of women and I saw a doll-like figure in the water Wednesday while looking for the baby,” Somtsewu said.
She said that while inspecting the figure, they realized it was little Akhimbali because of the navy blue jumpsuit, with the little cartoons, that he was wearing the day he disappeared.
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Somtsewu said that while searching near the dam, which is not far from where the baby was, they could see their mother watching them from her home.
“She saw us looking for her baby and didn’t say anything.”
Somtsewu said the mother was not part of the search.
Later, the police were called to the scene and the boy’s mother was arrested.
Western Cape Police spokesman Colonel Andrè Traut confirmed that a 20-year-old woman was expected to appear in Blue Downs Magistrates Court on Friday.
She faces charges of murder and child neglect.
Traut said detectives were investigating the circumstances surrounding the baby’s death.
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