Child born in Mauritius prison will be in SA on Friday – Social Development Dept
The department met the 5-year-old girl and her mother at the prison in Port Louis on Tuesday.
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CAPE TOWN - The Department of Social Development said a five-year-old girl who has been living with her mother in a prison in Mauritius since birth will be in South Africa on Friday.
The department met the 5-year-old girl and her mother at the prison in Port Louis on Tuesday.
The acting deputy Director-General for the department's corporate support services, Lumka Oliphant, said the woman was arrested in Mauritius for drug trafficking while she was pregnant with the child in 2019.
Oliphant said the child will be placed in the care of the grandmother until the mother is released.
"The department, working with DIRCO [Department of International Relations and Cooperation], will support the family through the process of repatriation and the transition as the child is reunited with her grandmother, who will now take the responsibility of being the primary caregiver."