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"My magosha child runs wild!" - Daily Sun

"Pastor weeps because she says her daughter lives a life of shame" - front page lead, March 19 2015

Daily Sun (March 19 2015) - WHEN GUGU stands in front of her congregation, she is a powerful pastor preaching the Word of God.

But at home at night she cries quietly to herself and prays for help.

THEN SHE IS JUST A MOTHER WORRIED ABOUT HER DAUGHTER SOMEWHERE IN AFRICA!

Gugu Sibeko (45) from KwaThema, Ekurhuleni, the pastor of Life Christian Church, said she suspects her 23-year-old daughter is an international magosha.

She said the daughter goes to different African countries, often for months at a time and only comes back to give birth to her children.

Gugu is already looking after two of her daughter's children, a five-year-old born to a Mozambican father and a one-year-old whose father is Nigerian.

"I already struggle to cope with my own five children," Gugu told Daily Sun.

"It's very difficult to deal with another two little ones."

Gugu said her daughter phones her from foreign countries including Zambia, Mozambique and Nigeria.

"As a parent I have tried to speak to her but she never listens to me. Instead she disappears, leaving me to take care of the children.

"When she fell pregnant the first time I thought she was planning to settle down, but the next thing I heard, my daughter was pregnant with a Nigerian man's baby."

She said she is worried she is going to do it again.

"What will I do if she brings another child for me to look after?"

Heartbroken Gugu said she kneels down and prays that her daughter will come home.

"I have taken her to five churches where she met different spiritual leaders, but it never worked."

She said as the spiritual leader of her church, her work is becoming difficult because people look at her daughter's behaviour and don't respect her message.

"Sometimes when I call her she answers the phone but she doesn't listen to what I say.

"Instead she makes me listen to the party and the music going on wherever she is," Gugu said.

"The little baby cries all night, looking for her mother. And I can't go to church because I have to look after my grandchildren."

Gugu said she has been to the police, who say they can't help and social workers have spoken to the daughter but can't convince her to stay and look after her children.

But Gugu doesn't want to put the children in foster care.

"I don't want my grandchildren to grow up with strangers," she said.

An independent social worker said because Gugu's daughter had ignored social workers' advice, Gugu could lay charges of child neglect against her daughter.

"The rights of the kids are being violated by their mother," she said.

See the Daily Sun's new website for more on this and other stories....

 

The Daily Sun is South Africa's largest daily newspaper with an average circulation of 274 165 (Audit Bureau of Circulations 2nd Quarter 2014) and a readership of 5.7m (as per AMPS 2012ab). Its Facebook page can be accessed here. It can be followed on Twitter here. To find about advertising on the Daily Sun click here.

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