DSD TO REPATRIATE A CHILD WHOSE MOTHER IS IN PRISON IN MAURITIUS

• A young child, whose mother is imprisoned in Mauritius for drug trafficking, is to be repatriated to South Africa by the Department of Social Development.
• The Children’s Act requires the department to bring children who are in distress abroad back to South Africa to make sure the child maintains “a connection with his or her family, extended family, culture or tradition”.
• The department has repatriated 24 children in distress from foreign countries over the past decade.

A delegation from the Department of Social Development is travelling to the Republic of Mauritius to repatriate a child born of a mother who is incarcerated in that country for drug trafficking.

The delegation leaves on 9 December 2024 and will return to South Africa on 13 December 2024 with the five-year-old child.

The Department of Social Development, under the Directorate: Adoptions and International Social Service (ISS), received a request from the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) on 15 May 2024 to assist with family tracing, assessment and the possible repatriation of the child.

The biological mother was arrested in May 2019 while she was pregnant.

The minor is currently in prison under the care of her mother.

If the child is not repatriated to South Africa, she may be placed in the Mauritian welfare system, which will not be in her best interests and may complicate her chances of being united with her South African family.

The Children’s Act mandates the department to repatriate South African children in distress in foreign countries.

The department has assessed the nominated grandmother, who lives in the North West, and found her to be a suitable caregiver. The grandmother has agreed to look after the child until the mother is released.

Since 2015 the department has repatriated 24 children in distress from foreign countries.

The department is obliged, in terms of Section 7, subsection (1) (f) (ii), of the Children’s Act 38 of 2005, to make sure that a child maintains “a connection with his or her family, extended family, culture or tradition”.

ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

Media enquiries may be forwarded to Mr Bathembu Futshane on 071 162 1154 or bathembuf@dsd.gov.za.