Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/3044351.stm


South Africa 'white slave' mystery

Police are seeking the parents of an 18-year-old white South African boy,
who says he has spent six years as the slave of a black family.

The boy, known as "Happy Sidane" can only speak the Ndebele language but
told police that his parents were Afrikaans-speakers.

He said that he was given to a black family by a domestic worker employed by
his parents when he was aged six.

"We are treating this as a kidnapping case," police spokesman Percy Morokane
told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.

He said that "a lot" of people had already contacted the police in
connection with the boy.

"Happy Sidane" can remember little except that he was born on 4 May 1985 and
lived in Johannesburg, along with his parents and a small dog.

He can also recall his parents' wedding photographs at their home.

He is described as a brown-eyed, blond boy.


He told police that he first lived with the black family in the
north-eastern town of Verena before the couple split up.

He then moved with the woman and her family to the nearby township of
Tweefontein.

"He said he attended a primary school where he was teased because he was
white," Mr Morokane said.

The boy remembers seeing his picture on television between 1994 and 1999.

But when he told his adopted mother, she threw him against a wall and banned
him from watching television, he said.

He left school at grade five to look after his "grandfather's" animals.

Poison threat

He said he was treated like a slave and was beaten if he did anything wrong.

Last year, his "grandfather" threatened to poison him so he ran away.

He returned after three months working on an orange farm but the threats
continued. He then turned himself into the police, accompanied by a female
friend.

"Everyone has been captivated by this story," the police spokesman said.

The case has now been handed over to the police Missing Person's Bureau and
Child Protection Unit.

Published: 2003/05/20 16:21:53 GMT

© BBC MMIII

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