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Zama
Bongiwe Madlala (pictured) was arrested in October during a police sting at a local
KFC restaurant following a tip-off
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A 20-year-old woman in
South Africa has pleaded guilty to trying to sell her child for 5,000 rand (US$346;
£230) on advertising website Gumtree, authorities say.
Zama
Bongiwe Madlala, named for the first time, was charged with human trafficking
and money laundering after she posted an advert for the baby.
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The
first advert was removed - the second was labelled baby car seat -
Gumtree
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A
National Prosecuting Authority spokesman told the BBC that she would remain
under house arrest until her next court appearance early in the new year in
Pietermaritzburg, the capital of South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province.
Her
19-month-old boy will remain in the care of social workers for the time being.
Ms
Madlala was arrested in October after a police agent posed as a buyer.
Last
month, police spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said the initial
advertisement was immediately red-flagged by Gumtree, and removed.
He
said a second advert was then placed, with the heading: "baby car
seat" and placed in the Baby and Kids sale section.
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Gumtree
is a website for free classifieds ads - Gumtree
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Meanwhile
International Business Times reports that a 20-year-old woman in South Africa
has pleaded guilty to trying to sell her baby boy by putting an announcement on
advertisement website Gumtree. Zama Bongiwe Madlala, named for the first time,
faces human trafficking and money laundering charges.
Madlala
tried to sell her baby for or R5,000 (£230; US$346). She pleaded guilty during
a hearing at the Pietermaritzburg Regional Court, in the KwaZulu-Natal
province.
Madlala
was arrested in October as a Gumtree user alerted the police after seeing the advertisement
for the baby in an advert about a car seat. A police agent who posed as a buyer
met the woman in a KFC restaurant, where she was immediately arrested.
National
Prosecuting Authority spokeswoman Natasha Ramkisson-Kara said Madlala will
remain under house arrest until a court appearance scheduled for February 2016.
Her 19-month-old son will remain with social workers.
Gumtree said it acted as
soon as the matter was brought to its intention. "Gumtree South Africa's
customer service team was alerted that a young woman had placed an ad on the
site advertising a child for sale," the company said in a statement.
"The team immediately removed the ad and blocked the user's account, which
effectively did not allow her to post any further ads on the site."
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