As the people of Saldanha Bay prepare to face the alleged kidnappers of little Joshlin Smith in court today, Police Minister Bheki Cele says there are “satanic” forces involved in the case.
He made the comments on Tuesday as he highlighted the case of another missing girl, who had disappeared two days before Joshlin vanished, and who was unfortunately found dead.
Ongeziwe Kamlana, 15, was last seen on 17 February in Gugulethu and her charred remains were found in a burnt-out shack in Kuils River the following day.
She had been burnt beyond recognition, and her family had to verify the body via a DNA test done.
Her alleged killer is currently out on R1 000 bail.
Joshlin disappeared from her home in Diazville two days later.
Her mother Kelly Smith, her boyfriend Jacquen Appollis, their friend Stevano van Rhyn and Phumza Sigaqa were arrested for human trafficking and kidnapping.
They will appear this morning in the Vredenburg Magistrate’s Court for bail information and a possible bail application.
It is alleged that they conspired to sell Joshlin for R20 000 to a sangoma.
Cele said police are still hard at work searching for Joshlin.
Cele says: “We are still chasing the luck of finding Joshlin. What is very sad is that the people arrested should have protected the child, this tells you that there is something satanic, something that is not correct. Let’s find the child and stop with the politics.”
Meanwhile, Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant-General, Thembisile Patekile, revealed that they are expecting the DNA results of the bloodstained clothes found on a field in Saldanha Bay almost two weeks ago during the search for Joshlin.
He says the results are expected this morning.
Patekile says: “Depending on what we find from the forensic laboratory, if it needs further investigation, we will not make the results public.”
Cele also confirmed that someone was arrested for Kamlana’s murder.
Cele says: “I’m told that we found the missing child from Gugulethu, it was proven that it’s her, unfortunately she is gone. She had been found murdered. Someone was arrested and will appear in court again in April. He was granted bail. We hope there will be an explanation about the incident.”
The Minister went to visit Kamlana’s family where he was told that the family had no funds to bury the teen.
Her aunt Fundiswa Tibisono says: “We are still very heartbroken about the murder. We lost her on 18 February and it has now been three weeks since her body is in the morgue and we would like to bury her, but we don’t have money to do that.”
Cele called Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu to assist the family.
mandilakhe.tshwete@inl.co.za