7th October 2011

Child sold for R500 is found

Ovayo Maxetuka has been found after allegedly being sold to a child trafficking syndicate by his grandmother.

A toddler who was allegedly sold to a child trafficking syndicate was found on Friday afternoon at a house in Kraaifontein in Cape Town, police said.

The one-year-old boy, Ovayo Maxetuka from Khayelitsha, was found after police received an anonymous phone call on his whereabouts, said Warrant Officer November Filander.

The boy was in the care of the alleged trafficker's neighbour, said Filander.

“The 41-year-old woman later handed herself over to police at the Kraaifontein police station,” he said.

“She will appear in the Khayelitsha Magistrate's Court on Monday, on charges of child trafficking.”

Ovayo was last seen on Tuesday. The child's 18-year-old mother discovered he was missing when she returned home from visiting family in Philippi.

She received information that her child had been sold by her mother and a neighbour to a woman believed to be involved in child trafficking.