Cape Town - A Dutch national spent his last day in in the city pounding the pavements of Long Street, putting up posters and asking passers-by if they’d seen his partner, who mysteriously disappeared six weeks ago.
Frank Elshof and a friend, Jurjen Mellema, came to Cape Town to launch a desperate search for Frank Kater, Elshof’s partner of three years, but left on Friday bitterly disappointed.
“We didn’t find him,” Elshof said. “We’re now going home and we still have hope but there’s no closure, and we’re running out of time.”
Kater was referred to Stepping Stones rehab centre after he checked himself into a clinic in his home town of Amsterdam.
The 42-year-old telecoms worker was recovering well when, on October 11, he left rehab for an afternoon outing, but never returned.
A drug expert said the R600 he had in his pocket may have tempted him back into addiction - but his loved ones are simply looking for any sign of life.
Elshof said the Ocean View police had been a great help.
“They’re wonderful, trying to follow all the leads, but they all lead up to Sunday afternoon October 12 (when he was last seen in Sea Point) and then it stops. From there, all traces end.”
Elshof was given snippets of information while in the city, but nothing solid enough to lead him or his private investigator to Kater.
After the article published in the Cape Argus earlier this month, when Elshof first began his city search, a couple of people contacted him with possible information.
One woman working at a soup kitchen emailed Elshof to say she had served a foreigner on November 13 who fitted the description.
“She said she served a first-timer, a foreigner in a hoodie with bare feet. She said he looked high and lost. He wouldn’t give his name, and went from St George’s Cathedral up towards the Bo Kaap.”
Then, the private investigator working on the case got word that a policeman may have spotted Kater.
“We’ve been told a policeman saw him last week in Long Street.”
But Elshof knows it could be a case of mistaken identity.
“He’s got a very familiar face. People think they saw him, but I don’t know if they actually did.”
Substance abuse expert Sarah Fisher said the R600 cash Kater left rehab with could have led him back into addiction.
Fisher was the chief writer for the Western Province’s alcohol strategy, as well as the norms and standards for treatment centres in South Africa. She is the executive director of Smart - Substance Misuse Advocacy, Research and Training.
“People who have drug and alcohol problems are always desperate, and therefore very vulnerable to exploitation,” she said.
Fisher said many foreigners come to South Africa seeking treatment, and that the Dutch government medical aid would pay for such treatment.
“There are a couple of organisations in Holland that send people here because it’s cheap, we have a reputation for good treatment, and it’s discreet,” she said.
But sending Kater far from his family and friends could have been damaging.
“One of the very basics of treatment is that family has to be involved.”
Fisher said Kater was probably staying in The Beach House, which is the secondary care stage of treatment at Stepping Stones, where he would have been allowed the freedom to leave for an afternoon with cash.
“The biggest trigger for people with drug and alcohol problems is money. If they see cash, their brains start slavering for drugs. To let them leave (a rehab facility) with that amount of cash is completely insane.”
Fisher said the period 60 to 100 days after detoxing is the most difficult, as chemicals struggle to balance themselves out in the brain and the person experiences severe depression and the inability to feel pleasure.
“It’s the greatest risk for people using. I don’t know what phase Kater was in, but if he was in secondary care, he might have been hitting this wall.”
Fisher said methamphetamines were popular in Cape Town’s large gay community, so Kater may have been offered some.
“Meth first made its presence felt in the gay community, because it makes you very, very sexual,” she said. “A lot people use it. So that’s a real possibility.”
Having access to only R600 wouldn’t be a problem.
“If you’ve got 600 bucks on you, you can have quite a party. If he’s been addicted to drugs, he can make a plan.”
Elshof has searched every shelter, soup kitchen, morgue and gay bar in the city area.
Now, after extending his stay once already, Elshof had no choice but to paste posters of Kater’s face around town and hope Capetonians continue the search.
“We’re so confident that so many people are looking for him,” he said. “His passport is at the Dutch Consulate, so if he wants to go home, they’ll help him.
“Our message to him is please come home, please get help - everybody still loves him.”
Stepping Stones said it was unable to provide any comment or insight on Kater’s disappearance.
“In accordance with our law, no information may be discussed or published with any person, institution or the media unless this has been expressly authorised by the patient him or herself. We are therefore unable to provide comment on any matter pertaining to any patient.”
Cape Argus