Who's Happy's daddy?

2003-06-04 21:13

Liela Magnus

Pretoria - Township kid Happy Sindane is doing well but is anxious to embark on the new chapter of his life.

Heinrich Augustyn for the justice department said: "He's adjusted well."

Families from as far afield as the Eastern Cape and Limpopo have come forward to claim Happy as their lost kin.

Police spokesperson Piletji Sebola refused to divulge how many families have laid claim to him thus far. Two teams of the family violence, child protection and sexual offences unit in Pretoria are working around the clock to track down his biological parents.

Happy gripped the country's imagination about two weeks ago when he turned up at Bronkhorstspruit police station after allegedly spending 12 years of his life in a township.

He claimed he had been abducted from his parents' house and later raised by Betty Sindane in KwaMhlanga north of Pretoria.

Jan-Hendrik Botha and his wife Sarie of Danville, Pretoria, believe Happy is their son Jannie who disappeared 11 years ago.

A day later, Tozi Ben of Diepsloot, claimed Happy was the son of her niece Rina Mziyaya.

Ben said she'd looked after the child until 1989 before sending him back to Mziyaya, who apparently gave him to a friend who had a son of the same age.

A family in Stutterheim in the Eastern Cape say Happy is their lost nephew.

Patricia Mzayiya alleges Happy is her late sister Rina's son. Rina apparently had a relationship with a German only known as Moses. "Happy" was their son."

She took Happy to Cenyu Village when he was still a baby. Five years later he was taken to Johannesburg by Rina's twin sister Irene.

Rina appears to have disappeared and Irene gave the child to a friend who apparently took him to KwaNdebele.

Sapa reports a former friend of Rina Mziyaya's, Jabulani Mleya of Limpopo, said she was pregnant with "Happy" when he met her.

He said Happy was born in June 1984 and his name is Abi Xolani Mziyaya.

- Beeld