The woman who stole three-day-old Zephany Nurse from her mother's bedside at Groote Schuur Hospital in 1997 will on Friday faces a parole board hearing in the Western Cape.

Lavona Solomons, who became known as 'Steel Ma' during her criminal trial and maintained her innocence throughout, was jailed for ten years in 2016, following her conviction for kidnapping, fraud and violating the Children's Act.

Solomon and her husband Michael had raised Zephany as their own child for 17 years, but in 2015 a chance meeting with Nurse's biological sister, a fellow pupil at Zwaanswyk High School, revealed the teenager's true identity.

In 2017, Zephany (who at the time went by Miche Solomon) told Cape Talk's John Maytham that while she did not condone Lavona's actions, she was the only mother she had ever known and that she had taken good care of her.

"I'm not trying to justify what she did," said Nurse at the time.

However, in an interview with CapeTalk's Sara-Jayne last month, Nurse said she hadn't been to visit Solomon in prison for more than two years and admitted their relationship was difficult.

She also said that she now prefers to be addressed as Zephany.

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Solomon's parole hearing coincides with the recent release of a documentary about the Zephany Nurse case, called 'Girl Taken'.

The film features interviews with the Nurse family, Lavona's husband Michael and Zephany herself.

Morne and Celeste Nurse, who divorced after their daughter's kidnapping, but remarried in 2020 will join Sara-Jayne King on Weekend Breakfast on CapeTalk this Saturday at 8am.

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