Newborn baby found in toilet pit

Residents of a rural Ngqeleni village are still in shock after discovering a newborn baby dumped inside a toilet pit on Tuesday afternoon.

The incident reportedly took place in Mdumazulu village in Mampondomiseni in Ngqeleni.

Although attempts to get a comment from the police had drawn blanks at the time of writing, one of the villagers, Xolile Mgwebi, who phoned the Daily Dispatch, said the baby was found after a young girl from Mduent to use the toilet.

"She heard the baby's cries and called adult people in the village to come. They managed to get the baby out of the toilet."

Mgwebi told the paper that police had arrived after being alerted and the baby was taken away in an ambulance.

He claimed the woman who had dumped the baby allegedly had two children already and that when quizzed by residents in the village the young woman, who was probably in her twenties, had allegedly told them that she was unemployed and did not have money to raise the new baby.

"Police said she must be brought to the police station by a guardian today."

Police spokeswoman Captain Dineo Koena was unable to confirm the incident or if the woman had been arrested by the police at the time of writing.