‘Our systems are broken in finding missing children’
Cape Town – Chasing the evidence and facts and not speculation or social media is what experts in the field of missing persons cases have called on while the search continues for 6-year-old Joshlin Smith of Saldanha.
Candice van der Rheede of Western Cape Missing Persons called for four cases not to be forgotten: those of 2-month-old Kai-isha Meniers of Bishop Lavis, kidnapped by an unknown woman on April 30, 2022; 6-month-old Ivakele Imvano Yeko of Somerset West, who disappeared on December 5, 2022; Linathi Titshala, 9, of Delft, who has been missing since December 12, 2018; and Lunamandla Sithonga, 12, who was last seen on September 9, 2020, in Mitchells Plain.
This week, Mayco member for safety and security JP Smith, said the City was formally called upon by the executive mayor of Saldanha Bay, Andre Truter, to assist in the search for missing Joshlin.
Multiple teams from their municipality were deployed, with commissioner Robbie Robberts co-ordinating efforts on land, sea and air.
Smith said divers, Fire and Rescue, skippers from Law Enforcement Marine Unit, man-tracking K9 dogs, investigators as well as several 4x4 vehicles, rubber ducks and jet skis, and the drone team were roped in.
Joshlin went missing on February 19 while her mother, Kelly, had been at work and left the child in the care of her boyfriend.
A R250 000 reward has since been offered for information which could lead to Joshlin being found.
Globally, 1.4 billion children aged 0 to 15 lack any form of social protection, leaving them vulnerable to disease, poor nutrition and poverty, according to new data released by the International Labour Organization, Save the Children and Unicef (the UN Children’s Fund), making them vulnerable to being kidnapped or becoming a missing persons case.
Close to 4 000 children remain missing in South Africa, and 3 712 children have vanished since 1995; 1 537 are boys and 2 175 girls, according to the SAPS statistics released in June last year to the media.
Just a week ago, the mother of 9-year-old Matthew Ohlsson, celebrated another birthday not knowing where her child was. He vanished in March 1997 outside his home in Mitchells Plain while attempting to fetch the family’s wheelie bin.
His mother, Michelle Ohlsson, began Concerned Parents of Missing Children following his disappearance, said she has been following Joshlin’s case and those of other missing children and that police lacked skills in investigating such dockets.
“Matthew is now 36 years old. Next month on the 24th if he is not back, it will be 27 years that he is missing.
“I do not have a right to speculate at this stage regarding the case of Joshlin, but police do not know how to work with missing persons cases, they always want to wait for a body,” she said.
“They are waiting until they find a body and then they want to stand and speak on television. I was once again calling on them to bring a task team.”
Barbara Rass, an activist for women and children’s rights who has spearheaded many searches for missing people, said social media could damage a case like Joshlin’s.
“Social media, TikTok are ruining this case and chances of finding the child dead or alive.
“Certain information should not be in the media and if we look at the AKA case, they made an arrest that was only revealed now – police and the family were working behind the scenes and there were results.”
Bianca van Aswegen of Missing Children SA said not enough attention was placed on missing children cases unless the case was fresh.
“Missing Children South Africa has a ‘Stillnotfound’ campaign whereby we re-share cold cases,” she said.
“We make sure that these flyers are shared and that these cases stay active.
“There have been cases solved after many years by just the re-sharing of flyers where someone has seen it with information that they come forward with.
“Cold cases do not get enough attention in South Africa as they should.
“There is definitely a need for a specialised team to actively only work on cold cases.”
Jacqui Thomas (Jacs), director/co-founder of The Pink Ladies, agreed that the process of how missing cases were being dealt with could damage them: “I think it is clear from the current situation that our systems are broken almost beyond repair and that it is going to take a huge upswing in time, effort and resources to even begin to remedy this.”
Leon Rossouw of Consulting Detectives, who investigates cold cases nationally, said often cases fall through the cracks due to a police officer’s workload.
“We also know when a missing child’s case is assigned to a detective, his other work doesn’t stop,” he said.
“The new case takes priority, but his case load continues to pile up on the desk.
“The detective works those case leads until he or she reaches a dead end and gets reminded about the other cases that are piling up.”
genevieve.serra@inl.co.za