Welfare call after baby found dead

Lungi Langa

THE POLICE have opened an investigation after a day-old baby was found dead outside the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Edgewood campus in Pinetown.

Police spokesman Captain Thulani Zwane confirmed that the infant had been found abandoned outside the campus by grass-cutters working in the area yesterday.

Zwane said it had become common for babies to be found in Durban bins, but finding an infant outside the campus was unusual.

An estimated 40 to 50 babies are abandoned in Durban annually.

The manager of the home finding team at Durban Child Welfare, Jasu Jagjivan, said issues like HIV, teenage pregnancy and poverty remained some of the main reasons why women abandoned their babies.

“High rates of HIV have an effect on women. Realising that they are HIV positive and that their baby might also be infected could be difficult for some women. Others do not have the resources to take care of their children,” she said.

Jagjivan said women did, however, have another option.

“They can approach Child Welfare who can assist in placing the baby with a family that can provide it with a warm and loving environment,” she said.

Not all women who have difficulty raising their children abandon them. “Every month two or three mothers come to us for assistance with their babies,” Jagjivan said.