Police are on the hunt for two young Manenberg moms who have allegedly abandoned their four little boys amid cries for help from neighbours.
Residents of Thames Walk say they are desperate to find friends Abigail Samuels and Insaaf Blankenberg, both aged 21, who left home on 8 April and abandoned their children at a neighbour’s house.
Their 45-year-old neighbour, who asked not to be named, says she is at her wits’ end and is calling for the moms to be arrested for neglect and abandonment.
“Insaaf was raised by my family after she was abandoned as a baby and she has three boys aged two, four and five.
“Her friend Abigail has a four-year-old son and they came together to me on 8 April.
“They never went to work. They told me they needed to go to Woodstock and asked me to look after the laaities and I said it was OK.”
The upset neighbour says the next day the moms never returned as promised and she tried to reach them.
“They just send us voice notes saying they are coming home but they don’t and when we try to get hold of them, the phones are again off.
“So we went to the police station to report them missing.
“We found out that they are out with bongos [foreign nationals] in Woodstock where they go to party and sniff cocaine,” the gatvol neighbour says.
When the Daily Voice visited the woman’s home on Sunday, the four little boys could be seen running around, and Insaaf’s five-year-old son repeatedly asked when his mother was coming home.
The Daily Voice was shown a bucket of rice the women had left behind to feed their children.
“They got this from the masjied as a donation but how must we look after the children with this? They can’t live like this.
“Most of us are surviving on Sassa money and I feel sorry for these children being left like this, so I do what I can but it's not enough.
“They don’t even have clean clothes and the small one doesn’t have Kimbies.
“You see how they hang on me, nou soe gaan dit heeldag, and when we contact their mothers, they just say they need a break from their children, but it’s mos not right to dump your children like this.”
Police spokesperson Colonel Andre Traut confirms that two missing persons’ dockets have been opened for the women at Manenberg Police Station.
The neighbours have also contacted social workers to investigate the moms.
“The social workers are coming (today) and we are going to show them what happens to these children.
“They can’t do this and the children are heartbroken that their own mothers just leave them like this to go do drugs.”
Anyone who knows the whereabouts of Abigail or Insaaf is asked to call Sergeant Natasha Landers on 082 469 7628.
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