What happened on March 3 on the R101 near Pretoria says a lot about what kind of country we have become, one where the lines between survival and criminality are so close to each other.
A 29-year-old woman is behind bars after she allegedly threw her four-month-old baby out of a moving bakkie which she had hailed earlier for a lift — because she feared for their safety. Jessica Kwangware believed at the time that she and her daughter Mennyesha were being abducted for muti. Now she is charged with murder.
This is not only a case of a miscalculated act of panic, but a mirror held up to the fractures of our society. So gripped by fear, she allegedly made a desperate attempt to save the child, only for the infant to die from the fall.
“My wife tried to save our child; now the baby is dead, and my wife is in prison,” was the chilling account of what happened by Maxwell Dhemba, who believes his partner is innocent.
The Sunday Times reported that Dhemba was fighting for justice for his partner, believing she had been caught between a rock and a hard place and should not be blamed.
Dhemba said his partner was overcome with fear when the bakkie driver started taking strange turns instead of heading towards the local supermarket she had asked to be dropped at.
“Jessica tried to throw Mennyesha so she would land on the grass, but at that moment, the other passenger grabbed her to attempt to stop her, and her aim was off. Our baby landed badly,” Dhemba said.
We cannot help but wonder, could her claim of being fearful of a muti kidnapping be a wild fabrication plucked from the air, or was it real? Crime is rampant in South Africa, and communities are grappling with poverty, and their collective experience is navigating life through fear. Could these factors have informed the mother’s choice to throw her baby out of the window?
Is Kwangware being charged with murder a form of criminalising grief, trauma and punishment for desperation? However, one looks at it, we cannot sugarcoat the matter — a baby died. It's something that should never have happened. If her account is true, this is a case of a toxic mix of fear, neglect and a grave societal ill that kills: crime.
This is not merely a family tragedy, but a sign of a failure to protect citizens, and a wake-up call that women and children are not safe.
This is not only a family tragedy, it’s a societal failure, and unless we’re willing to ask hard questions about how we got here, it won’t be the last.
In areas such as Vastfontein, it is the norm that people use informal transport to run their errands and travel. When safe public transport is a privilege and not a protected right and provision, we are bound to see such incidents where women travel with their infants are forced to take risks.
The matter is being interrogated by the legal system, the courts will decide the outcome. But this case should be used to exhibit care and protection for women and children.
For opinion and analysis consideration, email Opinions@timeslive.co.za
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.