Miché Solomon, the woman born as Zephany Nurse before she was abducted as a newborn from the Groote Schuur Hospital 22 years ago, says she harbours no ill feelings towards her kidnapper or her biological parents.
Solomon was speaking to eNCA after the release of her book "Zephany", which tells her story - from finding out that she was not Levona and Michael Solomon's daughter and that Morne and Celeste Nurse were her biological parents, to her feelings during the trial which saw Levona receive a 10-year jail sentence.
"What Levona did was wrong, but I wasn't abused, I was not neglected ... I'm not condoning what she'd done ... she's taken a part of me and my biological parents away and that is something we will never get back ... but what I can say is that she really took good care of me," Miché said in the interview.
"In my book as well, I do mention that her just risking everything to have this baby, to have myself it just shows she was so desperate, it proves to me her unconditional love and the measures and lengths she would go to have this baby..."
Solomon also spoke about the strained relationship with her biological parents and said she was trying to mend fences.
"The media is just making it sound like I'm this horrible person, I've never given them a chance ... chances were given and we are still trying, we are not upset, we are still trying."
Solomon said she could never hate the woman who raised her, but she would like to know what happened the day she was snatched from her hospital cot.
"I can only tell her that mommy you know what you did was wrong, it was very wrong, I can't make it right ... but mommy it would be so nice to just tell me what happened that day," she said.
"I told myself, Miché if she did do it, it's okay. I'm okay. I'm good and if I was abused or if I went off the rails because of this I would have hated her but I wasn't abused, I didn't need saving, I was okay. If you did it's okay, it's okay, it's not going to change anything."
Solomon's identify was revealed after a high court in Pretoria this week lifted the ban on publishing her identity.
Zephany was just three days old when she was snatched from her mother's hospital bedside on 30 April 1997.
The Nurse's 17-year search for their missing daughter finally ended in 2015 when their younger biological daughter started high school at the same school as Zephany.
Classmates remarked on the sisters' striking resemblance and when the younger sister told her father, he contacted the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks).
DNA tests revealed that Zephany, who was in matric at the time, was indeed the missing child.
The Lavender Hill woman who raised her was arrested and in 2016 was sentenced to an effective ten years behind bars.
- African News Agency (ANA)
