The Department of Social Development has successfully repariated a toddler who was being held in a Dakar prison in Senegal.
The department’s social workers arrived at OR Tambo International Airport on Sunday with a two-year-old baby who was born in Senegal and has been in the care of the mother who was arrested last year for drug trafficking.
The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) through its International Social Services (ISS) Directorate notified the Department of Social Development in August 2023 that the biological mother of the child had been arrested last year in February.
“It is reported that within days of her incarceration, she gave birth to the child. Due to the mother’s incarceration, the child is considered to be in distress since prison is not a conducive environment for the upbringing of the child.”
The South African government through the DIRCO initiated the process of repatriating the child by first visiting the mother to ascertain her wishes about her child.
“The mother nominated the grandmother of the child as the guardian in the country while she serves her sentence in Senegal,” said the Department of Social Development (DSD) in a statement.
The National DSD then requested the Eastern Cape provincial department to investigate the circumstances of the nominated foster parent to assess suitability to care for the child.
“The child will be integrated with the mother’s family in the Eastern Cape and the department will continue providing child protection services and provide support to the family.”
The department said it was obligated by Section 7, subsection (1), (f), (ii), of the Children’s Act 38 of 2005 that a child needs to maintain a connection with their family, extended family, culture, or tradition and all decisions must be made in the best interest of the child.
Social Development Minister, Lindiwe Zulu, said the department will always put the best interest of the child first.
“However, we remain concerned about the issue of drugs and what it can do to children. This unborn baby ended up in distress in a foreign country because the mother was arrested for trafficking drugs. We cannot stress more the importance of young people to make the right decisions about their lives,” the Minister added.
Since 2015, the department has repatriated 21 children in distress in foreign countries.
According to the data, seven were repatriated in Zimbabwe; three in Brazil; two each in Malawi, Mozambique, Canada and Tanzania; and one each in Ghana, the United Kingdom, Peru, Mauritius and Senegal. – SAnews.gov.za
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North Korea: You have two cows. Its name is Kim Jong Un.
Mafia Princess
Diary of an Englishman after he moves to South Africa….
**August 1**: Just got transferred with work from London, UK to our new home in Phalaborwa, Limpopo, South Africa. Now this is a town that knows how to live! Beautiful, sunny days and warm, balmy evenings. I watched the sunset from a deckchair by our pool yesterday. It was beautiful. I’ve finally found my new home. I love it here.
**September 1:** Really heating up now. It got to 31 today. No problem though. Living in air-conditioned home, driving air-conditioned car. What a pleasure to see the sun every day like this. I’m turning into a sun-worshipper – no blasted rain like back in London! Had the back yard landscaped with tropical plants today. Lots of palms and rocks. No more mowing lawns for me! Another scorcher today, but I love it here. It’s Paradise !
**October 1:** The temperature hasn’t been below 35 all week. How do people get used to this kind of heat? At least today it’s windy though. Keeps the flies off a bit. Acclimatizing is taking longer than we expected. Fell asleep by the pool yesterday. Got third degree burns over 60% of my body. Missed three days off work. What a dumb thing to do. Got to respect the old sun in a climate like this!
**October 25:** This wind is a bastard. It feels like a giant fucking blow dryer. And it’s hot as hell! The home air conditioner is on the blink and the repair man charged R200 just to drive over and tell me he needs to order parts from @#$# Johannesburg. The wife & the kids are complaining.
**October 30:** The temperature’s up around 40 and the parts still haven’t arrived for the fucking air conditioner. House is an oven so we’ve all been sleeping outside by the pool for 3 nights now. Bleeding R4 million house and we can’t even go inside. Why the hell did I ever come here?
**November 4:** Finally got the fucking air-conditioner fixed. It cost R1,500 and gets the temperature down to around 35 degrees. Stupid repairman. Fucking thief. If one more smart bastard says ‘Hot enough for you today?’ I’m going to fucking throttle him. Fucking heat! By the time I get to work, the car radiator is boiling over, my fucking clothes are soaking fucking wet and I smell like baked cat. Fucking place is the end of the Earth.
**November 9:** Tried to run some errands after work, wore shorts, and sat on the black leather upholstery in my car. I thought my fucking backside was on fire. I lost 2 layers of flesh, all the hair on the backs of my legs and off my fucking behind. Now the car smells like burnt hair, fried bum and baked cat. The Weather report might as well be a fucking recording – hot and sunny. Hot and sunny, Hot and fucking sunny. It’s been too hot to do anything for 2 bleeding months and the weatherman says it might really warm up next week. Fuck!!
**November 15:** Doesn’t it ever rain in this darn place? Water restrictions will be next, so my R5,000 worth of palms might just dry up and blow into the fucking pool. The only things that thrive in this hell-hole are the fucking flies. You don’t dare open your mouth for fear of swallowing half a dozen of the little buzzards!
**November 20:** Welcome to HELL! It got to 45 degrees today. Now the air conditioner is gone in my car. The repair man came to fix it and said, ‘Hot enough for you today?’ I wanted to shove the car up his backside. Anyway, had to spend the R2,500 of the mortgage payment to bail me out of jail for assaulting the stupid fool. Fucking PHALABORWA! What kind of sick, demented idiot would want to live here!
**December 1:** WHAT!!!! The FIRST day of Summer!!!!
You are fucking kidding me, right?