Mitchells Plain residents recently held a night vigil in remembrance of Kauthar Bobbs, the little girl who disappeared without a trace a decade ago and who is still being sought.
The five-year-old went missing in October 2012 while playing near her family home.
At the time, it was alleged that she was taken by gangsters. However, there was no concrete evidence for this.
The case has since gone cold, but for her family and residents of Freedom Park, there is still hope and chairperson of the Tafelsig East sub forum, Cheryleen Fredericks, says they have not forgotten about her.
“I spoke to the mommy and told her about what we wanted to do for Kauthar,” says Fredericks.
“We then gathered with family and held a prayer service as well as some praise and worship along with a motivational message to the community, to say, jou kind is my kind.”
She says the forum also gave the family a book with personal messages written by the community to Kauthar.
Fredericks adds that the girl’s case is deeply personal for her.
“I was part of the search, there was no body or any bones found, so we hope she’s still alive,” says Fredericks.
Freedom Park resident Anwar Alexander says Kauthar’s disappearance traumatised the entire community, who to this day remain vigilant about their children.
“We are still deeply hurt by this but we pray that one day we get closure,” Alexander adds.
When the Daily Voice visited Kauthar’s family home in Freedom Park, her mother Lamees, 34, was still overcome with emotion regarding her daughter’s disappearance.
The hartseer mom says she thinks about Kauthar every day but believes that police could have done more to find her child.
“ It’s probably because I’m a local that they only searched around here.“ If it was for someone who worked maybe in government then they would have done everything to find her,” an emotional Lamees adds.
She tells the Daily Voice that police should also reinvestigate past cases that have gone cold: “Not just with my child but for everyone, the heartbreaking things is that the murderers walks free.”
Lamees says December 18 will mark what would be Kauthar’s 16th birthday.
SAPS spokesperson Wesley Twigg says there has been no new leads.