Happy's claim 'may be true'

2003-05-26 15:47

Bronkhorstspruit - Happy Sindane's claim to be the kidnapped son of white parents raised by a black family in rural Mpumalanga, may be true, the Bronkhorstspruit magistrate's court said on Monday.

Magistrate Marthinus Kruger, addressing a press conference after a children's court inquiry into Sindane's identity, said Happy insisted in court that his parents were white.

"Although that might be true, according to the balance of probabilities, he does not look like he comes from a white family," Kruger said.

"We will wait for DNA test results which will be presented in court at a later date."

According to evidence before the court, Happy is 16 years old and should be protected under the Child Care Act, Kruger said.

"The court declares him a minor and a teenager in need of care and it therefore places him in a place of safety under the Child Care Act."

Happy is already in a place of safety, to which he was admitted last week after he reported his claim of kidnapping to the police.

The boy asked to remain at the facility because he was being well taken care of there.

Happy was dropped off at the Bronkhorstspruit police station a week ago, claiming he was kidnapped by a domestic worker when he was six, and brought up in the KwaMhlanga area, north of Pretoria.

The Sowetan reported last week that a Xhosa-speaking woman from Diepsloot, north-west of Johannesburg, said Happy could be the son of her late cousin.

Tozi Ben told the newspaper that Rina Mampinga, who died last year, had a son with the white owner of a Fourways smallholding. Mampinga named her son Happy.

Ben said she raised Happy until 1989 when she could no longer care for him because of injuries she sustained in an accident.

Happy was then reportedly returned to Mampinga who sent him to stay with a friend who had a son of the same age.

Several members of the Sindane, Ben and Botha families attended Monday's court hearing, from which the media were excluded.

The court also barred reporters from speaking to any of the families.

"The families told the court they do not want to make any statements to reporters, and it is our duty to protect everyone involved including them," Kruger said.

Department of Justice spokesperson Heinrich Augustyn told reporters "there was a possibility and evidence that Happy's father could be a coloured or a white man".

"That man has not been identified yet, and we are still looking for him."

Blood samples have been taken from a Pretoria couple who also believed that they were the parents of the youth.

Jan-Hendrik and Sarie Botha's son Jannie disappeared from Danville, an impoverished Pretoria suburb, in 1992.

Asked what would happen if either of the families' DNA test results do no match with Happy, Augustyn said the court would deal with the matter in terms of the Child Care Act.

He said the court would also come up with appropriate action if Happy was fabricating his kidnap claim.

Pretoria police spokesperson Inspector Percy Morokane, also at the post-inquiry press conference, said another family has approached the police claiming happy was their son. Morokane said they would interview the family later on Monday and take blood sample for DNA tests.

The case was postponed to June 17 for further investigation.

- SAPA