Minister Gayton McKenzie has had to defend himself after he was attacked for failing to start the promised Joshlin Smith Foundation, following the child’s disappearance.
The now-minister of Sports, Arts and Culture made the promises in the run-up to the national elections, as police and Saldanha community tirelessly searched for the six-year-old meisie.
McKenzie promised the nation that his first salary as a minister would go to the foundation.
But five months later, the foundation has yet to be registered while Joshlin is still missing.
The Grade 1 learner went missing on 19 February from her Middelpos home in Saldanha Bay.
McKenzie, the leader of the Patriotic Alliance, was part of the search and made many posts on social media about the missing girl, even offering a R1 million reward for her return.
In May, his party was voted into parliament.
Last Thursday, Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Liam Jacobs asked McKenzie about the promised foundation, saying members of parliament should be held accountable.
He wrote on X: “He [McKenzie] went from pledging to donate 100% of his salary to the foundation to admitting it doesn’t exist.
“While I respect the good endeavours and charities funded by the minister (it’s a noble thing to do), the fact remains that Joshlin Smith’s name was used to score political points.
“I asked a Parliamentary Question as a DA MP about whether the Joshlin Smith Foundation exists. When I found out that it didn’t, nor was it in the process of being registered, it was a kick in the teeth.” (sic)
In a statement, McKenzie admitted the foundation has not been founded yet but says his salary has gone to other causes.
He hit back: “In the first months of my term, we have focused on the work of the Department and Ministry, and I have used the salary to fund worthy causes close to my heart, and the money has truly been making a difference.
“The Joshlin Smith Foundation does not yet exist, because we want to make sure we get it right and don’t just do it to please the members of other political parties who think this matter has anything to do with them.
“It is a private, personal matter, relating to my own funds and what I choose to do with my own money.
“To rush into the creation of any Foundation would be a mistake, and the obvious fact that it has not yet been registered does not mean that I have gone back on my undertaking to not benefit from my ministerial salary.” (sic)
Joshlin’s maternal ouma, Lauretta Yon, says she knows nothing about the foundation.
The ouma reveals: “No one approached me about it. I didn’t even know there was a plan to start a foundation, Gayton has not come to me about that.”
Joshlin's mother, Racquel “Kelly” Smith, her boyfriend, Jacquen Appollis, Lourentia Lombaard and Steveno van Rhyn were arrested for the trafficking of the little girl. Lombaard has since turned State witness.