Happy may be white - court

2003-05-26 12:38

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

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

"According to the balance of probabilities, he does look like he comes from a white family," said Kruger.

"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, therefore, it 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 abduction to the police.

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

Three families at court

Happy was dropped off at Bronkhorstspruit police station a week ago, claiming he had been abducted 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 paper 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 from an accident in which she was involved.

Happy was then apparently 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.

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

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

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

Inspector Percy Morokane, also at the post-inquiry press conference, said another family has approached 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