Another newborn baby found dumped in KwaZulu-Natal

Another baby has been found abandoned in KwaZulu-Natal, police said on Wednesday.

The baby was found on Sunday morning around 6am at the Ithala Centre in Nkandla, said Col Thembeka Mbele.

"The police responded and found a newborn baby girl inside a dustbin in a plastic bag covered with blanket," said Mbele. "The baby was taken to hospital. Her mother is unknown and a case of child abandonment was opened at the Nkandla police station."

Police are searching for family members of the child.

The girl is one of several babies recently found dumped around the province. 

On Tuesday, police reportedly found a foetus discarded in a dustbin in Durban.

Rescue Care spokesperson Garrith Jamieson said the foetus was discovered in the Glenwood area.

"The foetus was a baby boy, who unfortunately passed away prior to our arrival at the scene," he said, adding that police are investigating.

Last month, a 31-year-old woman was arrested for dumping her newborn baby on the side of the road in KZN, shortly before a rubbish truck was due to do its rounds.

Reaction Unit South Africa (Rusa) spokesperson Prem Balram said community members alerted them after a local scrap collector heard the baby crying. The baby boy was wrapped in a garbage bag and denim material.

Balram said paramedics "cut the umbilical cord, which was still attached to the placenta. The child was unhurt." 

After receiving information from the community, they traced the woman suspected of being the mother, who lived about 100m away from where the baby was dumped.

Balram said the woman initially denied that the baby was hers, but then admitted to the Rusa officers that she had concealed her pregnancy for nine months due to her children being from different fathers.

Her parents said they did not know about the pregnancy.

"After going into labour on Monday morning she managed to naturally deliver the baby in her bathroom, while her 11-year-old son and nine-year-old daughter were at school and her parents at work," said Balram.

KZN police spokesperson Thulani Zwane said the woman was charged with child abandonment.