E80 000 reward for missing children

National Commissioner of Police Isaac Magagula (c) flanked by Professor Cisco Magagula (r) and Commandant Patrick Mavimbela. (Pic Sisho Magagula)

MATSAPHA – Following the mysterious disappearance of two young girls, the police have put up a cash reward of E80 000 for information that can shed light about the missing minors.

National Commissioner of Police Isaac Magagula became emotional yesterday and explained how the police have been having sleepless nights since the children’s disappearance.
The two missing children are eight-year-old Babongiwe Vilakati of Ngculwini and Mantfombi Matsebula (6) of Ekudzeni.

Babongiwe, a Grade II pupil is said to have disappeared after being dragged from the river banks where she had gone to do her laundry.
She returned from school at Ngculwini Nazarene Primary School in the company of her aunt last Friday. She then decided to go to the nearest river to do her laundry but no one saw her when she left.

 The river, Mhlamati River, is about a kilometre away from home.
It was about 2pm when her cousin saw the huge basin with her clothes but she was no where in sight.
A man, who was found collecting firewood near the river bank said he was also clueless on the child’s whereabouts as he had not seen her.
It was then that a search ensued.

Babongiwe’s slippers were found close to river bank and her footprints were tracked along the muddy trail.
The traces, according to Deputy Police Public Relations Officer (PRO) Inspector Khulani Mamba at the time, suggested that she was forcefully dragged along by an adult wearing boots.

The missing child was described as dark in complexion with shinny but short curly hair. Babongiwe was also described as a shy looking girl with a small round face, medium in body size with white but not big eyes and average ears and nose.
Sniffer dogs, an army of police officers from Matsapha Police College and detectives from the Serious Crimes Unit (Lukhozi) were deployed to search for the missing child.

The other girl, Mantfombi disappeared while preparing to go to church on Sunday. She is said to have had a tendency of hiding when it was time to go to church but on the day she disappeared she left as if she was going to the toilet. 
Addressing participants at the close of a course at the police college yesterday, the national commissioner explained that the E80 000 cash reward had been broken down into separate sums of E40 000 for each case.

Confidentiality

He assured the nation that any person offering information will be treated with utmost confidentiality. The information offered should lead to the arrest and prosecution of the suspects involved in the disappearence of the children.
It must also lead to the recovery of the minors.

“Putting up the reward is an illustration of the gravity of these incidents and the priority attention we have attached to having them resolved. This, however, should not be construed as a norm when soliciting support from the public as we believe the public has a responsibility to assist the police with or without rewards in consonance with the national slogan of ‘Nawe Uliphoyisa’ or ‘Bucala Yindzaba Yetfu Sonkhe’,” he said.
The National Commissioner said children are innocent creatures who are the embodiment of the future and their welfare and protection ought to be the priority of any adult and law abiding citizen.

“Children look to adults as their protectors to shield them from vagaries and challenges of life. Hence, when adults exhibit animalistic tendencies towards children as upright and law abiding citizens, we should stand up and condemn such antics in the strongest possible terms,” he said.
The National Commissioner said it was regrettable that these two incidents occurred just when the country, through UNICEF, had recently launched a campaign of no violence against children and espoused on the protection of children’s rights.

Magagula commended the communities for the spirit of partnering with the police and traditional leadership authorities in trying to find the missing children.

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