Three days before two-year-old Kutlwano Shalaba was reported missing, his mother told her landlord she was going to Durban to buy clothes to sell.
That was the last time the landlord and neighbours in Boipatong, Vaal, saw Kutlwano.
On Monday his mother appeared in court after she confessed she sold her child.
The landlord, who asked not to be named, told Sowetan she had been renting out two backrooms to Kutlwano's mother, Keneilwe Shalaba, who comes from QwaQwa in Free State, for just over two years.
Shalaba, 32, is known in the community as a loan shark who also buys and resells clothes.
"I am confused about what could have made her do what she is accused of doing," said the 74-year-old woman.
According to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), on November 13 Shalaba reported Kutlwano missing and claimed he had been kidnapped by unknown men.
However, Shalaba's landlord said on November 10, Shalaba told her she was going to Durban with her child to buy clothes. Two days later, she called the landlord and said she was returning to Gauteng.
"When she came back on Wednesday [November 13], I helped her to put some things in her room. Her back room door was open, so I assumed the child was in the house. I asked her where Kutlwano was, and she told me he was sleeping and not feeling well and she would take him to the doctor."
The woman said Shalaba later strapped the toddler on her back and headed out.
"The way she had strapped the baby looked very strange. It makes me think that she entirely covered her back to pretend she was carrying the child because I did not see the boy," the woman said.
She said a few hours later Shalaba returned e and told her she was afraid as she saw two suspicious armed men in a vehicle. She requested a taxi using her phone and it fetched her at the landlord's gate.
"The bundle she carried was covered completely with the blanket and I did not see Kutlwano. I did not ask questions."
The woman said Shalaba "went to the doctor" and returned home accompanied by a friend. Again she asked where the child was, and Shalaba said the doctor asked her to leave him behind so he could put him on a drip.
On November 13, she allegedly reported a false case to police, claiming her son had been kidnapped by unknown men in a vehicle.
— NPA spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana.
The landlord learnt about the child's alleged kidnapping from a neighbour the next day. Kutlwano remains missing.
A police source told Sowetan a few days after Kutlwano went missing, the police could not initially reach Shalaba but later learnt she was in QwaQwa to consult a sangoma about "the whereabouts" of her son. On her return to Gauteng, she allegedly confessed to lying about the kidnapping. She has not disclosed where the child is.
"Instead, she has been sending officers on a wild goose chase and has been giving names of different people she alleges took the child. She went as far as accusing the child's grandmother [of taking her child]."
Shalaba appeared in the Vanderbijlpark magistrate's court on Monday on charges of human trafficking, conspiracy to commit robbery and making a false statement to police.
"On November 13, she allegedly reported a false case to the police, claimingt her son had been kidnapped by unknown men in a vehicle," said NPA spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana.
She said during the police investigation it was uncovered the kidnapping claim was false, and Shalaba later confessed to fabricating her story.
Shalaba's neighbour said police have been to her house to question her and her child.
"The people who live next to where she claims the child was abducted also did not see anything. I am shocked. Was it depression because she is heavily pregnant? The police told us the doctor Shalaba had allegedly visited with Kutlwano did not have a medical file with their names and their CCTV footage does not show them entering the doctor's premises," said the neighbour.
Anyone with information on Kutlwano's whereabouts should call Capt Mokgoto on 082-778-7937 or Sgt Thembeka Maxambela on 079-695-1338.
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