Chairperson, I move without notice:
That the Council -
1) notes a recent survey by Child Welfare Cape Town, which showed that approximately 500 babies have been dumped by their mothers around Cape Town in the Western Cape and that most of them survived the ordeal and are currently in care homes;
2) further notes that in the latest of many incidents -
a) a newborn baby boy was pulled alive from a manhole near Killarney Gardens by a truck driver who had earlier seen a woman cradling an infant at the drain;
b) a 17-year-old mother was charged with murder and perjury in connection with the murder of her six-week-old baby whom she earlier claimed was kidnapped from the Khayelitsha Day Hospital, and
c) a Khayelitsha woman discovered a dumped baby in a drain in the Green Point informal settlement in Khayelitsha;
3) acknowledges that although in most cases it has been found that babies are dumped for various reasons, including teen pregnancies, drugs and alcohol abuse, rape, and other socioeconomic factors, the dumping of a baby is a gross and repulsive violation of their rights and a criminal offence; and
4) takes this opportunity to condemn in the strongest possible terms this inhumane and hideous criminality and calls on communities to create social networks that will embrace the principles of ubuntu and humanity by caring for each other and encouraging those who need assistance to seek help from the avenues made available by the government and civil society.
Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.