Naughty children need to know just how much manpower and resources they waste when they go for a joyride, writes Taariq Halim.
Cape Town - People are angry and they are demanding answers.
This week Cape Town was stricken by panic and fear at the news of the disappearance of five girls in the Kuils River area.
Three teens had vanished in one week, two of them best friends, Nayoca Plato and Robin van Leeve.
Police were working around the clock, trying to trace the missing girls.
Missing persons organisation, the Pink Ladies, spread their media alerts far and wide, hoping for a breakthrough.
The public was shocked and saddened, praying for their safe return and sending their best wishes to the frantic families.
Community workers feared the worst, not ruling out the possibility it could be the work of human traffickers.
The Daily Voice was also on the case and worked with the families, police and the Pink Ladies.
Losing a child is every parent’s nightmare – even if it’s just for five minutes.
So you can imagine the hell Nayoca and Robin’s families must have gone through for the five days they were missing.
The two were eventually tracked down in Roodepoort and circumstances around their disappearance are still unclear.
Journalists will tell you that a lot of the time, cases like these are false alarms – the teenagers are just naughty and return home, tails between their legs, days later.
But until they do, there’s always the possibility that the unthinkable has happened.
With the Kuils River case this week, again, it was a desperate, tense situation.
The investigating officer in the case scolded the Daily Voice for blowing the story out of proportion.
The police and concerned citizens criticised the Pink Ladies, which was not fair.
For 10 years, Dessie Rechner and her dedicated team have worked hand-in-hand with SAPS, the community and the Daily Voice to solve countless cases.
It’s a stressful job, which requires hard work, manpower and resources.
So when high profile cases turn out to be false alarms, it’s very frustrating for all parties involved in the searches.
And it’s embarrassing for the families, who, after pleading to the public for help, suddenly go quiet when the runaways are safely home.
You can’t blame the parents, really.
Who would want to shame their own kids in public?
Naughty children need to know just how much consternation they cause when they go for a joyride.
It’s a massive waste of manpower and resources, which could be used to solve real missing cases like that of Kauthar Bobbs, Shaskia Michaels and Matthew Ohlsson.
We don’t want to arrive at a situation where, when there is a genuine missing case, people brush it off and say “ag, they’re seker ma’ out jolling somewhere”.
To the youngsters out there, please be more responsible.
* Taariq Halim is editor of the Daily Voice.