Traumatised mother continues searching for snatched baby

In a desperate search for her two-month-old baby, a Port Elizabeth mother spent the whole of yesterday putting up posters of Lizalise Makuzeni.

The little girl was snatched by an unknown woman who had befriended the mother, Phezisa Makuzeni, 22, at the Gqebera Clinic at about 11.30am on Wednesday.

Makuzeni, of Walmer Township, said: “This is very stressful time for me, I don’t know what to do any more.

“I don’t know how to carry on as I keep thinking about what this woman is doing to my baby.

“What is she eating? Is she OK?

“That’s all about.

“It’s especially difficult as I don’t know where to start looking as this woman could have boarded a taxi to anywhere.”

Makuzeni said she had accompanied the police yesterday morning in an attempt to trace the woman’s steps.

The woman, who wore a denim skirt and black knitwear top, left bags of vegetables at the clinic and boarded a taxi that dropped her and Lizalise off at a taxi rank in Govan Mbeki Avenue.

“We went to a fruit and vegetable shop and looked at the CCTV footage and we saw two people who could possibly be the woman,” she said.

“I am finding it hard to remember if the woman wore a doek and glasses or not, but I have been going around the I keep thinking township looking for other mothers [who were at the clinic] who could help me identify the correct woman.”

Police spokeswoman Captain Sandra Janse van Rensburg said they were following all leads.

Gqebera Clinic committee members said their attempts to have the Department of Health tighten security at the clinic had fallen on deaf ears.

Fundiswa Mbane said: “We only have one security guard . . . and it is difficult for him to keep an eye on who goes in and out.

“We have asked the department many times to at least install CCTV cameras, but to no avail, and now this has happened.”

Provincial health spokesman Siyanda Manana said he doubted an additional security guard could have prevented the incident.

“The safety of patients and staff at health facilities is a priority,” he said.

“We are installing CCTV cameras in our facilities in a phased manner.”

Manana also urged parents not to allow strangers to look after their children.

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