A 40-year-old woman is scheduled to appear in the Mkhuhlu Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday because of the concealment delivery of a newborn baby by tossing him into a pit toilet.

The woman was detained on Tuesday afternoon at Matikwana Hospital in Mkhuhlu, close to Bushbuckridge, by members of the Acornhoek Family Violence, Child Protection, and sexual offences section (FCS).

A manhunt for the woman who abandoned the newborn baby boy in a pit toilet on Sunday morning was declared by Mpumalanga police earlier on Tuesday.

The baby was left at a church in Bushbuckridge’s Ronaldsey Trust, Ximhungwe.

“Members of the public heard the cry of a baby inside a pit toilet. They then alerted the authorities and dug behind this pit toilet and managed to rescue the child whose umbilical cord was still attached to him,” said provincial police spokesperson, Colonel Donald Mdhluli.

The infant was saved and then transferred to a hospital for treatment. The police additionally filed a case of child negligence.

“The incident has been strongly condemned by the management of the SA Police Service in Mpumalanga. Members of the public are urged to make use of services from social workers, faith-based organisations and other structures in the community rather than to take bad decisions,” Mdhluli concluded.