The little girl who has not been found
This week Nokulunga Nkosi shed tears of joy and sadness as she watched the drama unfold of a missing child reunited with her mother.
The kidnapping of Amy’Leigh de Jager in Vanderbijlpark made headlines and galvanised police and the community in their search for her.
But there has been no such reaction to the disappearance four months ago of Nkosi’s eight-year-old daughter, Amahle Thabete.
Amahle was playing in the street with friends near her home in Tsakane, Ekurhuleni, when she was lured away by a man “asking for directions”.
Nkosi said: “I ask myself why my daughter is not found. I’m asking myself if the police are doing enough to look for her.”
Gauteng police spokesperson Capt Kay Makhubele said the search was continuing.
Although no recent police statistics are available, Dr Marcel van der Watt, a former Hawks investigator who is a researcher in Unisa’s department of police practice, found that between 2000 and 2015, 14,252 children under 18 years were reported missing. Of these, 10 295 were found; the others are still missing.
Nkosi spent three weeks in a psychiatric ward. “I’m asking myself if she’s OK, if she’s fed and not abused. It’s really tough for me.”
Nkosi, who works at the Ekurhuleni municipality, spent a month at home after her daughter’s disappearance. Each day, she went looking for Amahle.
This week children were playing in the street where Amahle was taken. “It’s usual for kids to play and nothing happens. I just ask what happened to mine on that Saturday afternoon,” Nkosi said.