BULAWAYO – A newborn baby died on the way to hospital on Wednesday after being retrieved from a pit latrine at a school in Filabusi, Matabeleland South.
Police said the child’s mother is a student at Siwazi Secondary School in the Avoca, about 60km from Filabusi District Hospital.
“We are investigating a case of concealing birth which occurred at a secondary school on June 7, 2023,” national police spokesman Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said.
“A Form 4 student gave birth to a baby in the toilet before dumping it into the pit.”
The baby was reportedly rescued using a sack and a wire by a police officer who was providing security services to Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) officials who were at the school which is used as a polling centre during elections.
A source said: “The student asked her teacher for permission to go to the toilet, claiming she was having period pains.
“She took long returning and other students followed her to the blair toilet. They noticed rather large blood stains and their suspicions were aroused. They reported the incident to the police officer who interviewed the student, triggering a desperate rescue effort.”
The child was alive when retrieved, but died while making the tortuous trip to hospital on a poorly maintained dirt road.
Last year, an A’ Level learner at Gomorefu High School in Marange was arrested after she delivered a baby at her lodgings and allegedly dumped the newborn in a pit latrine.
In a separate incident early this year, police in Lupane arrested and charged an 18-year-old learner from Tshongogwana Village with infanticide after a seven-week-old baby girl was found dead in a bedroom hut, with froth coming through the nose. Two hammers were found on top of blankets next to the body.
