Mom ‘admits’ lying about son’s kidnap

Landlord explains strange behaviour before woman’s arrest for human trafficking

Three days before two-year-old Kutlwano was reported missing, his mother told her landlord that she was going to Durban to buy clothes to sell.

However, that was the last time the landlord and neighbours in Boipatong, Vaal, saw little Kutlwano. On Monday, his mother appeared in court after she confessed to having sold her child. 

The landlord, who asked not to be named, told Sowetan yesterday that she had been renting out her two backrooms to Kutlwano's mother Keneilwe Shalaba, who comes from QwaQwa in the Free State, for just over two years. 

Shalaba, 32, is known to the community as a loan shark who also buys and resells clothes.

"I am still very confused about what could have made her do what she is being accused of doing," said the 74-year-old woman.

According to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Shalaba on November 13 reported Kutlwano missing and claimed he had been kidnapped by unknown men. 

However, Shalaba's landlord said just three days before, on November 10, Shalaba told her she was going with her child to Durban to buy clothes. Two days later, she called the landlord and said she was coming back to Gauteng.

"When she came back on Wednesday [November 13], I even helped her to put some of her things in her room. Her backroom door was open, so I assumed that the child was in the house. I then asked her where Kutlwano was, and that is when she told me that he was sleeping and not feeling well and that she would take him to the doctor." 

The woman said Shalaba later strapped the toddler on her back and headed out. 

"The way she had strapped the baby looked very strange... now  it makes me think that she entirely covered her back to pretend she was carrying the child because I did not see the boy," the woman said.

She said a few hours later, Shalaba returned home and told her she was afraid as she saw two suspicious armed men in a vehicle. She then requested a taxi using her phone which fetched her from the landlord's gate.

"But this time around, the bundle she carried was covered completely with the blanket and still I did not see Kutlwano. I did not ask questions."

The woman said Shalaba "went to the doctor" and returned home accompanied by a friend.

Again she asked where the child was, and Shalaba said the doctor asked her to leave him behind so that he could put him on a drip.

The landlord learnt about the child's alleged kidnapping from a neighbour the following day, Thursday. Kutlwano remains missing. 

A police source told Sowetan that a few days after Kutlwano went missing, the police could not initially reach Shalaba but later learnt that she was in QwaQwa to consult with a sangoma about "the whereabouts" of her son. On her return to Gauteng, she allegedly confessed to lying about the kidnapping. She has not disclosed where the child may be.

On November 13 2024, she allegedly reported a false case to the police, claiming that her son had been kidnapped by unknown men in a vehicle.NPA spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana.

"Instead, she has been sending officers on a wild goose chase and has been giving names of different people she alleges took the child. When officers arrive at the person's place they become shocked. She went as far as accusing the child's grandmother [of taking her child]."

Shalaba appeared in the Vanderbijlpark magistrate's court on Monday on charges of human trafficking, conspiracy to commit robbery and making a false statement to the police. 

"On November 13 2024, she allegedly reported a false case to the police, claiming that her son had been kidnapped by unknown men in a vehicle," said NPA spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana.

She said during the police investigation it was uncovered that the kidnapping claim was false, and that Shalaba later confessed to fabricating her story.

Shalaba's neighbour said police have been to her house to question her and her child. 

"The people who live next to where she claims the child was abducted also did not see anything. I am shocked, was it depression because she is heavily pregnant? The police have told us the doctor that Shalaba had allegedly visited with Kutlwano did not have a medical file with their names and that their CCTV footage does not show them [entering the doctor's premises," said the neighbour.

Anyone with information on Kutlwano's whereabouts can call Capt Mokgoto on 082-778-7937 or Sgt Thembeka Maxambela on 079-695-1338.

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