‘MAKARABO Molebatsi, 27, says she never stopped bleeding since her 10-month toddler was abducted by a pretending-to-be-Good Samaritan stranger on May 28. “Life was just a mess. I have been on my periods since my daughter was abducted to date,” a mother of the 10- month toddler who was stolen from her Berea home says.
news
Sept. 2, 2020
METRO REPORTER
4 min read
Mother on continuous periods since toddler stolen
Baby Nomvula handed over to her mother at Maseru Bridge
. The toddler’s plight has turned out to be a lifetime opportunity as she will now have her wellbeing looked after by Social Development – a blessing her parents never dreamed about.
Telling her story after reuniting with her toddler at the Maseru Bridge on August 31, Ms Molebatsi says her life has been meaningless.
She says she could not believe her eyes when she was reunited with her lovely daughter, Nomula after seven months.
When her daughter was separated from her, she was just three months old.
Ms Molebatsi says on that fateful day, she had taken her daughter to Mapoteng Hospital in Berea to get a six-week vaccination when she met the woman who masqueraded as a caring woman.
She says the abductor showered her with praises that she has mothered a lovely baby.
“She asked me if my husband would mind if l bought the baby some clothes,” the Mamathe based woman recalls with a sore heart.
And they later travelled together all the way back from Mapoteng to Teyateyaneng.
All hell broke loose when Ms Molebatsi walked out of the shop to buy some goodies and found out that the strange woman was nowhere to be seen with the baby.
Amidst her frustration, a man who witnessed the abduction informed her that the woman carrying the baby jumped into a white car and sped off.
“I was told that the car took the Maseru direction,” Ms Molebatsi says.
She says the husband of the woman who kidnapped her daughter reported the abduction to the police.
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The abductor crossed the border to South Africa and upon her arrival there, she showed the baby to her husband, claiming it was hers, Ms Molebatsi says.
“Shocked to the core, the husband took the photo of the toddler and showed it to the neighbours who told him that the same baby was wanted in Lesotho,” she adds.
After the baby was confiscated from the woman, she says it was taken to a care centre in Welkom under the Department of Social Department.
So, in December last year, Ms Molebatsi was summoned to South Africa to identify her daughter.
The child was on August 31 finally handed over to the Minister of Social Development 'Matebatso Doti by the Acting Premier of the Free State who is also the Free State Member of the Executive Council for Social Development Mamiki Qabathe.
Ms Doti said she learned of the abduction on May 28 when she got into office saying she vowed that she would not rest until the child was found and brought back to her parents.
She said as the ministry they had to support the family and ensure that they get counselling because the journey had not been easy for them.
She was thankful to South Africa saying she realised that the bond between the two ministries which started in 2012 was bearing fruitful results.
Ms Doti further commended both the South African police and their Lesotho counterparts as well as the SA Social Development for tirelessly working to ensure the safe return home of Nomula.
She said the crisis had turned into an opportunity as Nomula was now going to be under the Ministry of Social Development’s care.
For her part Ms Qabathe said it was by God's grace that the baby was found and reunited with her parents.
She said protocols signed by the two countries showed that the two needed to work together, adding that not so long ago they brought to Lesotho about 26 children who were residing illegally in South Africa.
“This is a sign that the two countries are benefiting from their good bilateral relations,” she said.
She was hopeful that Social Development in Lesotho would continue supporting the Molebatsi family in building the bond with their child.
Speaking at the same event, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Relations Machesetsa Mofomobe thanked the Lesotho Consular in Welkom together with South African Police Service (SAPS) and Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS) for working collaboratively for Nomula’s return.
He said if the two countries had cordial working relations, there would always be fruitful results like that one emphasising that they had to work together as countries due to the bilateral protocols they signed.
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