SA toddler born to mother arrested for drug trafficking in Senegal repatriated

A toddler who was growing up in prison in Senegal after her mother’s arrest in Dakar for drug trafficking has been repatriated by the department of social development.

The department said the child, who arrived in Johannesburg on Sunday in the care of a social worker, will be integrated with the mother’s family in the Eastern Cape. The department will continue providing child protection services and support to the family.

“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 was an unborn baby who ended up in distress in a foreign country because the mother was arrested for trafficking drugs. We cannot stress the importance for young people to make the right decisions about their lives,” said social development minister Lindiwe Zulu.

The department’s spokesperson, Lumka Oliphant, said the department was notified by the department of international relations and cooperation through its international social services directorate in August that the biological mother of the child had been arrested in February 2023.

“Within days of her incarceration, she gave birth to the child. Due to the mother’s incarceration, the child was considered to be in distress since prison is not a conducive environment for the upbringing of a child. The government of South Africa through Dirco initiated the process of repatriating the child by first visiting the mother to ascertain her wishes about her child,” she said.

Oliphant said the mother nominated the grandmother of the child as guardian in the country while she serves her sentence in Senegal.

“The department is obligated by the Children’s Act 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,” she said.

Oliphant said the department has repatriated 21 other children who were distressed in foreign countries since 2015.

These are the countries and number of affected children:

• Brazil three
• Malawi two
• Mozambique two
• Zimbabwe seven
• Ghana one
• UK one
• Peru one
• Mauritius one
• Canada two
• Tanzania two.

Source: TimesLIVE