See Why South African Woman Tried Selling Her Baby Boy Online For 5,000 Rand

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A 20-year-old woman in South Africa has been charged with human trafficking and money laundering after posting adverts to sell her child on Gumtree website for 5,000 rand (69, 000 Naira). The woman, Zama Bongiwe Madlala, pleaded guilty to the charges, Daily Mail reports. She had placed the advert under the heading ‘Baby Car Seat’.

In a statement read out in court in the eastern coastal town of Pietermaritzburg, Madlala said she tried to sell her baby after it was discovered that her boyfriend was not the child’s biological father.

Weeping, Madlala told the court that she became pregnant at the age of 17 after she dropped out of school, at the time she had been in love with two boyfriends and she did not know which one was the father. However, one of the boyfriends denied responsibility and disappeared while the other said he wanted to see the baby first.

He accepted responsibility for the baby and began to give her R1 300 (N12, 000) a month. He did this for some months until a disagreement broke out between him and Madlala and he demanded a DNA test to determine the child’s paternity. The test was carried out early in the year. Madlala recounted in court,

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‘All three of us, the child, boyfriend and I had DNA tests. Two weeks later, the results showed the boy was not the child’s father. In September, I placed an advertisement in Gumtree, selling my baby for R5, 000. Two days later, I received a call from an Indian saying she was interested in the child and would call me again.
About three days later she called to say she would get a loan from a bank and later she said she had received the loan. We agreed to meet and that she was wearing a pink shirt and was waiting for me at the door of a KFC.
Upstairs of the KFC, she asked me what to buy for my son and I said he only eats cereal. She asked if she could hold the baby and asked if she could give me the money. I said yes. The money was in a bank bag which she took from her handbag and told me to count it, which I did.
I counted R5 000 in R200 notes, which I put into my handbag. She asked if I wanted to leave and I said yes. As I got up, I was approached by two female police officers and they said I was under arrest.’

Madlala is currently on bail and has to report to a police station twice weekly. Her 19-month-old boy will remain in the care of social workers for the time being; according to the National Prosecuting Authority she would remain under house arrest until her next court appearance early in the New Year.