3 October 2014 R1-20/FREE
Kidnapped baby found!
Baby Dineo, who was kidnapped in April this year at the Modi Mall, has been found and was reunited with her parents on Monday, 29 September. On the photo in front is Dineo with her biological mother, Jacobeth Mongatane. In the back from left is Neria Rikhotso, Daniel Sithole and Violet Ledwaba. The social workers are from FH Odendaal in Modimolle. Photo: Denise van Bergen Denise van Bergen Baby Dineo, who was kidnapped on 23 April this year, aged four months, from the Modi Mall at Modimolle, has been found and returned to her parents after more than four months. Her 17 year old mother, Jacobeth Mongatane from Cyferskuil in Bela Bela, met the 41- year old accused, Tsakani Violet Baloyi for the first time on the day before the kidnapping, in Bela Bela. According to Mongatane, Baloyi offered her a job as babysitter at her house in Phagameng, offering to allow Mongatane to take her baby along to work. They agreed to meet on the following day, 23 April, in Bela Bela, and go from there to Baloyi’s house in Modimolle so that Mongatane could start work immediately. Upon their arrival in Modimolle they went to the Modi Mall, where Baloyi told Mongatane that she needed to make a new key. She offered to take Dineo
inside with her while Mongatane rested outside, but never returned. Mongatane waited at a restaurant near the mall’s entrance until 20:00, when she contacted the police and opened a case of kidnapping. Footage was seen on the mall’s CCTV of a woman leaving the centre at around 16:10 in the afternoon with a baby on her back, walking quickly through the centre and leaving via Entrance 3. The police investigated the matter, but Baloyi was nowhere to be found. According to Warrant Officer Bobby Nel of the Child Protection Unit on Modimolle the police received a call from Mongatane on 18 August saying that she had seen Baloyi with the baby in Bela Bela. Nel and his team immediately investigated and Baloyi was arrested on the same day at Bela Bela. Baloyi denied having been to Modimolle with Mongatane on the day that Dineo was kidnapped. She apparently said when
Baby Dineo at the time of her disappearance. Photo supplied
questioned that the child was her own, but could provide no proof. Dineo was placed in a place of safety while blood tests were done and all parties waited on the results to ascertain who her mother actually is. The results were received on Thursday, 25 September, and according to the police proved that Dineo is the child of Mongatane and not Baloyi. Baloyi appeared in court in Modimolle on Friday, 26 September. The case was postponed to 31 October for further investigation, and she was released on bail for R2 000. According to information received Baloyi, who resides in Vhembe, told her husband that she was pregnant and had given birth in April. Her husband, who lives and works in Bela Bela, accepted her word without question and is apparently still convinced that the child is theirs. The couple is insisting on further blood tests and the police has said that this is to form part of the investigation.
Social workers from FH Odendaal Hospital on Modimolle retrieved little Dineo, now nine months old, from Polokwane where she had been staying on 29 September. She was returned to her biological parents, Jacobeth Mongatane and Daniel Sithole on the same day. The BEAT’s journalist was present to share in the big moment. Mongatane was clearly overwhelmed by emotion and couldn’t get a word out to express her joy, but Sithole told The BEAT that they were delighted and relieved to have their child back. The social worker team from FH Odendaal, Neria Rikhoto and Violet Ledwaba, told The BEAT that it was a miracle that Dineo was found. During her kidnapping she was apparently known as “Wakwe” which means “It’s yours.” They cautioned that there would definitely be a period of adjustment for mother and baby before they were used to one another again.