Polokwane - The family of a 17-year-old teenage mother, who went missing with her newborn baby last month, are convinced that human remains discovered near Thohoyandou in Limpopo are hers.
But police said pathologists were still conducting DNA tests to determine if the body was that of Hlulani Maswanganyi.
Maswanganyi and her baby were allegedly kidnapped by a traffic officer, and in the process, the teenage mother was separated from her child.
It is alleged that the traffic officer faked a pregnancy and told her colleagues that she was going to give birth.
Saselamani police spokesman Warrant officer Sam Matsimbi said the family believed that the badly decomposed body could be that of their daughter.
Matsimbi said the body was exhumed and taken for DNA testing at the forensic laboratory.
A fisherman walking along the Nandoni Dam shore came across a shallow grave, and alerted police to the discovery.
The South African Police Service’s search and rescue unit and forensic services exhumed the body on Tuesday morning.
The area was first searched shortly after police arrested a traffic officer and a local man in connection with the kidnapping.
Maswanganyi, who went missing on October 1, was last seen with the traffic officer who had allegedly promised to buy clothes and arrange a birth certificate for her newborn baby.
Since then, the only time her family had heard from her was when she sent an SMS pleading to be rescued.
In the SMS, Maswanganyi told her relatives that the person who promised to help her was no longer delivering on her promise.
The traffic officer, Masingita Chavani, 45, and her co-accused, Steve John Sithole, 22, were denied bail by the Malamulele Magistrate’s Court.
During the bail hearing violence erupted when members of the community demanded that the pair remain behind bars.
Community leaders and family expressed concern that the baby was still missing and that the accused were not helping investigations.
Matsimbi said that if the DNA tests proved that the remains were that of Maswanganyi, the accused would face a murder charge.
The kidnapping case was postponed to December 14 for further investigations.
Magistrate Cedrick Baloyi denied the two bail, saying they should remain in custody as police investigations were still underway.
Community spokesperson Bernard Chavani said they were awaiting the outcome of the DNA results. He said he believed that the results would bring closure to the family.
“A person cannot die like an animal, we would wants to know the whereabouts of her remains,” said Chavani.
African News Agency