The Port Elizabeth father, who threw his infant child off the roof of his house last week during a protest, will appear in the New Brighton Magistrate's court on Monday.
The 38-year-old man was photographed in a dramatic series of pictures on Thursday after he first threatened to throw his child off the roof of a shack, before hurling the child off.
The one-year-old child was luckily caught by Constable Luyolo Nojulumba. Following the incident, Nojulumba said he saved a life on Thursday.
"The first thing in my mind was just to save that baby... we wanted to make sure that the baby would not fall down," he said.
Nojulumba was one of a number of police officers deployed to the Joe Slovo informal settlement on Thursday for crowd management during a demolition process by the municipality.
During the process, a man climbed onto his shack in an attempt to prevent the structure from being destroyed, threatening to throw his child off the roof.
A police officer attempted to talk him down, and as he was grabbed by a police officer, he threw his child from the roof.
"Fortunately, a member of the metro police caught the girl and the father was arrested," police spokesperson Captain Andre Beetge said on Friday.
The man will be appearing on charges of attempted murder.
The baby was handed back into the care of her 35-year-old mother with social services keeping an eye on the situation and ensuring the safety of the child.
"It was decided that the mother would be released and the baby [kept] in her care. This is with intervention and oversight from social services," Beetge said.