How can parents do this? My mind boggles!

Parents 'left' teen in Bahrain
23/07/2007 08:56 - (SA)

Erika Gibson, Beeld

Johannesburg - A good Samaritan from South Africa who is working in Bahrain will see to it that a stranded 18-year-old South African teenager gets home.

Donovan Kruger from Secunda, a Grade 12 pupil, has been stranded in this Middle East country after his father and stepmother allegedly left him there.

According to foreign affairs spokesperson Nomfanelo Kota the department heard about the incident only when the Samaritan called the department.

Donovan travelled in Bahrain with his parents in September last year while his father was apparently working in Saudi Arabia. His visa was valid for only 72 hours, reported the Gulf Daily News.

The family wanted to return to South Africa on June 21, but the immigration officials didn't want Donovan to leave the country as his visa had already expired. He first had to pay a fine of R3 645, which his father didn't have.

Parents can't be located

The couple left him with R450 and the clothes he was wearing and told him to go back the place they had been staying to see if somebody would provide accommodation for him while they tried to solve the problem.

Donovan's biological mother was not aware of the situation.

Donovan asked for help at an organisation that took care of migrant workers. The fine for the expired visa has since accumulated to R5 400.

According to Kota an official at this organisation dropped him off at the Samaritan, who wanted to remain anonymous. This man is well-known businessman among South Africans in this area.

According to Kota the Samaritan agreed to buy Kruger a flight ticket home, while the organisation's officials were trying to quash the fine.

"We are trying to get the child back into South Africa and will then see if we need to call in social services."

Donovan's parents could not be located.

According to Kota it was also not known when the teenager would return to South Africa.

THE SCAREY PART OF THIS IS THAT THESE ARE THE PEOPLE WE GOT BOTH STEFFY & KEIRA FROM

Official ‘sold baby for R1,500’
MONICA LAGANPARSAD Published:Jul 10, 2007

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


A DURBAN social worker is facing charges of kidnapping and corruption after allegedly selling a three-month-old baby boy to a Lamontville woman.

The social worker, who is expected to appear in the Durban Magistrate’s Court soon, was arrested on Friday morning.

She was employed by the Durban Children’s Society and it is alleged that she was paid R1,500 for the baby.

Allegations that she back-dated foster-care grants are also under investigation.

Shelagh Hurford, executive director of the society, said: “We view the allegations in an extremely serious light

04/07/2007 22:47 - (SA)


Philip de Bruin, Beeld

Johannesburg - A cheeky note was left in the cash hall safe of the Magistrate's Court here after burglars had simply used a key "supplied to them by someone," and made off with R800 000 the previous night.

It read: "Thanks very much, we'll be back later."

That was in April; and, on Tuesday night, they did return.

This time, they stole R500 000, after ordering the security guards to switch off their cellphones and then opening the safe with a blowtorch.

When they left the court building, they rewarded the security guards with a can of Coke, "because they had been so good and behaved themselves so well".

'Inside help' suspected

A senior justice spokesperson said the possibility was being investigated that both thefts had taken place "with inside help".

"Where else would they have got hold of the key to the safe for the first robbery?

"And, why would they return specifically on the nights that the clerks responsible for the cash had neglected to bank it that afternoon?"

The cash comprised bail money, fines and other normal court transactions. It did not include maintenance payments, which were kept separately.

Toddler survives night in snow
04/07/2007 08:36 - (SA)

Riette Olivier, Die Burger

Jansenville - A toddler who walked after his deaf grandfather, without the grandfather realising it, wandered off by himself and got lost on farmland near Jansenville in the Eastern Cape in the middle of winter.

The two-year-old climbed over two barbed-wire fences and spent a night in the freezing cold, but all that he retained after his nasty experience was a bit of a cold.

The parents of Ronaldo Spogter, 2, only noticed what had happened when his grandfather arrived at their house on the farm Boskloof at 13:00 on June 26.

Wena Theron, police spokesperson, said "family members scattered in all directions to search for him, but without success. At 16:00 he was reported missing at the police station."

The police had to call off their search for the day at 19:30.

"By that time it was terribly cold, and it was raining hard. It was also too dark to seen anything."

The dog unit was called in to assist on the following day, leading to Ronaldo's tracks and pieces of his clothing being found on a neighbouring farm.

A police officer who was involved said by that time they had lost hope of finding the child alive.

"It had snowed heavily that night and it was freezing outside."

But the police kept searching and in the hope that the toddler could be near his clothes, they called out his name.

Ronaldo responded to his name, and at about 11:00 that morning he was found on a rock, about 10km from his parents' home, after having climbed over the fences of two other farms.

Police described finding him alive as a miracle.

"He left home wearing one shoe, and later lost the other one and even his pants. But when we found him his body (temperature) was still warm," said the officer who was at the scene.