enca - 3 days ago

NGOs warn banning baby boxes will not stop dumping Ntandoyenkosi… Sat, 10/25/2025 - 15:23 PRETORIA - Organisations that care for abandoned babies are warning government not to criminalise their life-saving work.The deadline to comment on the Social Development Department’s draft Children’s Amendment Bill was yesterday, Friday. The bill imposes stricter rules on baby drop off centres, effectively making their operations illegal.
But baby savers say shutting them down will only increase the risk to vulnerable infants.The rights of children, especially newborns, have been taken to the highest office.
A plea to the Presidency to soften proposed legislation around abandoned babies. Section 1a of the draft Children’s Amendment Bill includes children left at baby boxes as abandoned babies, potentially criminalising drop-off centres. On the 1st of August, a newborn was found wrapped in a plastic bag and found dumped in Cosmo City, Extension 6. On the 23rd of July, children discovered, children discovered, the body of a newborn baby in a river in Emalahleni. Ward 10 councillor, Lucky Ngwenya, said this is the fifth baby dumped here. The reality is that babies are being dumped in dustbins and in rivers, I mean, I have picked up these foetuses in the city of Pretoria, so that is not the first option, it s the last resort, and that is the deepest heartfelt appeal we make, to see this as the last resort for desperate mothers. They can’t take of themselves properly, so how can you take care of a baby when you can’t even take care of your own personal needs.”The deadline for submissions on the Bill is the 25th of October.
Social Development would not comment on the matter as a separate, but related issue around the Children s Act and child abandonment, is before court.eNCA’s Hloni Mtimkulu reports.

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