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Nanny to plead guilty to trafficking

A Mozambican national accused of kidnapping a three-year-old girl has indicated that she will plead guilty to child trafficking charges, attempting to extort money and leaving the country without a valid passport.

Legal Aid defence attorney Ncumisa Dyantyi yesterday told presiding magistrate Eugene Moss in the Mdantsane Regional Court in Eastern Cape that the woman will plead guilty to all charges.

Moss postponed the matter to September 29. The woman was remanded in custody.

Both the Hawks and the department of home affairs yesterday said they were still trying to find out how the woman crossed the border between South Africa and Mozambique with the three-year-old girl, Perfect Gift Msesiwe.

Home affairs spokesman Mayihlome Tshwete yesterday said: "There is a possibility that she left the country through an unmanned port of entry. We are still trying to verify that and this is what our new visa legislation tries to combat."

Tshwete said the department was doing all it could to minimise harm to children due to trafficking.

 

Hawks spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said theirs was an ongoing investigation: "How she left the country is still part of the investigation, but obviously she was assisted."

The woman, who cannot be named until she pleads, was hired as a nanny in July by Mdantsane couple Siyabonga and Zolelwa Msesiwe to look after the girl and her eight-year-old sibling.

She disappeared with the child after two weeks and later demanded R500000 ransom for her safe return.

Police were brought in to investigate and tracked the woman to Vosloorus on the East Rand where she was arrested on September 4.

 

The toddler was rescued at a village near Maputo on September 7.

The woman first appeared in the Vosloorus Magistrate's Court before being transported to Eastern Cape.

The Msesiwes were not in court during her appearance yesterday.

Called for comment later, Zolelwa said: "I am happy that she is not denying anything. I'm very grateful that she will admit to everything that she did because this will save the family and the state a great deal of time."

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