CITYWIDE security officer, Andre Janse van Vuuren, was on night duty in Sherwood when he received an urgent call around 03:00 on Sunday, May 4, to assist Phaphisanani Madanda, who had unexpectedly gone into labour at her employer’s home.
“I had just finished eating my lunch for the night shift when, minutes later, I received a call from the control room informing me that a client in Sherwood was in labour,” said Janse van Vuuren.
Upon arriving at the scene, he discovered the baby was already halfway born. Despite his nerves, his instincts immediately took over as he grabbed his medical bag, put on latex gloves and calmly reassured the mother.
“Delivering a human life is magnificent, exhilarating and nerve-racking all at once,” he said. “When I arrived, the baby was already halfway out. I calmly reassured the mother and told her to keep pushing. I had to repeatedly calm down because she was in quite a state.”
The delivery proceeded without complications. “My wife, Caitlin, always laughs at me when I say that it was almost as if the baby slid out like a skateboard,” Janse van Vuuren chuckled.
After the successful delivery, Janse van Vuuren clamped and cut the umbilical cord. He only relaxed once little Lingomso let out his first cry. “It was a healthy baby boy – lively and full of energy from the moment he was born,” he added.
Madanda’s employer, who wished not to be named, told the PE Express that that night was one of the scariest for her. She first became aware that something was wrong when she heard Madanda screaming at about 18:00 the previous evening. “I thought she was just in pain, so I gave her some pain medication,” the reserved woman said. “I went back to watching a series until midnight. I then went to bed. She kept going to the bathroom, and I heard the door opening and closing.”
The situation escalated dramatically two hours later when another scream sent her rushing to Madanda’s room. “She said it felt like something was coming out of her womb, she said it felt like a big blood clot about to come out,” the employer recalled. “I asked if she was pregnant, and she said not that she knew of, but when I looked down at where the pain was, I saw a portion of the baby’s head starting to come out; that completely terrified me! The last time I was pregnant was almost two decades ago, and I had a c-section, so this was all new to me. I was afraid for her and the little life she was carrying.”
She then immediately phoned a neighbour and called CityWide. The ambulance was delayed, arriving much later, after the birth. During this time, Janse van Vuuren, who had briefly searched online to refresh his memory on the procedure, successfully cut the umbilical cord with the employer’s assistance.
“I helped him measure everything, and he cut it. He was so kind.”
Madanda had experienced mild discomfort in previous months but never suspected she was expecting. This is her third child; her older children, 4 and 12, live with her mother back home in the Eastern Cape village of Tsolo.
Janse van Vuuren, who had previously assisted with a delivery while working with a colleague many years ago, later visited baby Lingomso and found him thriving.
The security officer, himself a father of three, described the experience as surreal but rewarding. “I take my hat off to colleagues in this industry – delivering a baby is no small task,” he said.
Madanda has named her surprise son, Lingomso – meaning “he is the future” – marking the beginning of a new chapter in her life. “In this new chapter, I am vowing to put my children first and just focus on them,” she concluded.
