Free Republic

Tuesday, 27 May, 2003 South African herd boy 'not white' From the BBC On-Line: DNA tests will now be used to prove his parentage A South African judge has raised doubts over the credibility of a teenager who says he spent six years as the captive of a black family. The boy, known as Happy Sindane, says he grew up with a white family and was kidnapped by their domestic servant. He speaks only the Ndebele language but says he remembers his parents speaking Afrikaans. But magistrate Martinus Kruger said this story was probably not true. "The court finds on...

Is Happy Sindane really Jannie Botha? By Solly Maphumulo Sarie and Jannie Botha have an agonising two-month-long wait ahead of them before they know for sure whether Happy Sindane is their long-lost son, Jannie. Sindane made headlines this week when he claimed that he had been abducted by a domestic worker 12 years ago, at the age of six, and brought up by a black family in the rural Mpumalanga village of Tweefontein. He arrived at the Bronkhorstspruit police station on Monday, where he told police a dramatic tale of abduction and abuse by some members of his foster...

South African police are conducting DNA tests on a couple who believe they are the parents of a white boy who claims he was abducted 12 years ago and raised in a rural community in conditions of slavery. The blond 18-year-old, who can speak only Ndebele, arrived at a police station in Bronkhorstpruit, near Pretoria, on Monday. He has been known as Happy Sindane, but a 45-year-old woman, Sarie Botha, has come forward and said she is his mother and that his name is Jannie. Police confirmed the Bothas had reported their son missing in 1992.The extraordinary story has driven...