'Don't dump your baby'

PLEA: AUTHORITIES 'HAVE RESOURCES TO DEAL WITH ABANDONMENT'

- Masoka Dube

Parents have been urged to hand over their unwanted babies to the police or leave them at healthcare facilities instead of dumping them anywhere. The number of babies being abandoned in public throughout the country seems to be on the rise, with a slight increase recorded in the Eastern Cape.

In the latest incident, a baby boy was found in a black refuse bag hidden under a bridge in the Eastern Cape last week.

Eastern Cape social development MEC Bukiwe Fanta's spokesperson, Mphumzi Zuzile, said the boy weighed 2.3kg and was healthy when he was found in Mdantsane, East London on Friday. The boy was taken to Cecilia Makiwane Hospital.

Zuzile said the baby was found by community members, who alerted the police. He said the infant was only a week old when found.

The baby is doing well in hospital, while social workers and the police are trying to locate his family.