Police have issued a renewed call to the public for their dire assistance to help locate baby Ivakele Yeko, who it is believed was abducted in Somerset West in December.
A desperate search continues for the infant, who remains missing after apparently being kidnapped by an unknown woman in the central business district (CBD) on Monday 5 December.
DistrictMail & Helderberg Gazette previously reported on the incident, which occurred around lunchtime, but was reported to Somerset West police only around 22:00 (“Six-month-old infant ‘abducted’ in Somerset West CBD,” Tuesday 6 December).
According to police, little Ivakele was taken around 13:00 on Monday. This after his 22-year-old mother, Asanda Yeko, entrusted an aunt, a fellow community member and mother herself, with the care of her child before leaving for work that fateful Monday morning. When she returned home she was informed her child had been taken.
At her Nomzamo home, mere days after the incident, Yeko told the newspaper that a relative, who had heard from others of her son’s disappearance and the child minder’s failure to report the incident to police immediately, had relayed the devastating news which left her shattered.
She said the child minder, her husband, their seven-year-old daughter and Ivakele had travelled to Somerset West CBD to attend to Sassa-related matters at the offices of the social services agency.
She stopped at a liquor store in Victoria Street and asked an unknown woman to hold the baby and watch her child. On coming out of the store both the woman and children were missing.
The incident was later reported to local police and a case of abduction was being investigated by the police’s Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) Unit. Police obtained security footage showing the suspected abductor getting into a taxi with the children and making off.
According to police, the older child was found near her residence and safely returned. However, the baby still had not been found.
Police this week said determined attempts to find the missing baby since December have proven futile and they call on anyone with information that could aid the investigation to come forward.
Authorities are searching for what is believed to be a foreign national woman with braids who speaks isiZulu.
The infant, with short black hair and brown eyes, was last seen wearing a red T-shirt, nappy and a dummy hanging around his neck.
Anyone with information that could assist with Ivakele’s safe return and the arrest of the woman is urged to contact the investigating officer Detective Sergeant Asanda Hlana on 082 301 8910 or, alternatively, Crime Stop on 08600 10111.
Ivakele’s grandmother, Elsie Tolibadi (48), shared that while the family is still battling to cope with their beloved Ivakele’s disappearance they remain hopeful that the bouncing bundle of pure delight and joy is safe and cared for, and God will help bring him home.
