Cape Town - More than 100 volunteers and residents over the weekend continued the search for Lunamandla Sithonga, 12, who was last seen when she was dropped at her school in Westridge, Mitchells Plain.
Her distraught mother, Anela Jack said she last saw her daughter, in a bus stop in Site B Khayelitsha while she accompanied her to take a scholar transport after 8 am.
Jack said Lunamandla was the only one in the scholar transport, because the driver said he already transported two other children, and Lunamandla was going to school later than others around 9am.
Lunamandla Sithonga, 12, who was last seen when she was dropped at her school in Westridge, Mitchells Plain. Picture: Supplied
Her father, Vusumzi Sithonga added: "We even visited all her friends at the weekend but we did not find her. The driver told us that he dropped her at the gate where they sanitise their hands."
Sithonga said they went to school on Friday, and were told that Lunamandla was marked absent since Thursday, "but the driver said he dropped her at the gate".
However, he said they reported to the police station in Mitchells Plain. "Lunamandla can be identified by her short brown hair, brown eyes, petite build, mole on the left side of her back and scar on her right leg."
Dessie Rechner, from the Pink Ladies' Organisation, said she was wearing the Eastville Primary School red and blue tracksuit when she went missing.
“It’s believed she was last seen last Thursday, July 9 when she was dropped at Eastville Primary School in Eastridge by a taxi.”
Police spokesperson FC Van Wyk confirmed that a case of a 12-year-old missing girl has been reported. He said it was alleged that she was dropped off at school the morning on Thursday at about 08:45, however, she never attended any of her classes.
"It is further alleged when the driver who dropped her off came to pick her up she was not at school. At the time of her disappearance, she was wearing a school uniform. Searches continue."
More than 100 volunteers and residents over the weekend continued the search for Lunamandla Sithonga, 12, who was last seen when she was dropped at her school in Westridge, Mitchells Plain. Video: Phando Jikelo/African News Agency
On Sunday, volunteers from neighbourhood watches, the Western Cape Missing Persons Unit, residents and the police went door to door in Mitchells Plain in search of Lunamandla.
The ANC's provincial spokesperson on social development Gladys Bakubaku-Vos, said the ANC in the legislature was concerned with the reported case of yet another young girl that has gone missing in the Western Cape.
"We pray for her safe return," Bakubaku-Vos said, of concern was the fact that the young girl was last seen as she entered her transport to school, but she never arrived.
"The scholar transport driver as the last person she was seen with must be a person of interest. We welcome police action but more needs to be done to determine the whereabouts of this young girl," she said.
Bakubaku-Vos has called on residents to remain calm and not to take the law into their own hands, but to cooperate with the investigators by giving all information to the police. The ANC in the legislature also calls on the police to make haste to solve the matter and bring the alleged perpetrator(s) to book."
Community Safety MEC Albert Fritz also called on residents in the province to familiarise themselves with the missing person's case of young Lunamandla, and called on anyone who may have any information on her whereabouts to immediately come forward and report such to Sergeant Mnkomo of Mitchells Plain FCS on 082 522 1066.
On Sunday, volunteers from neighbourhood watches, the Western Cape Missing Persons Unit, residents and the police went door to door in Mitchells Plain in search of Lunamandla. Picture: Phando Jikelo/African News Agency
On Sunday, volunteers from neighbourhood watches, the Western Cape Missing Persons Unit, residents and the police went door to door in Mitchells Plain in search of Lunamandla. Picture: Phando Jikelo/African News Agency
On Sunday, volunteers from neighbourhood watches, the Western Cape Missing Persons Unit, residents and the police went door to door in Mitchells Plain in search of Lunamandla. Picture: Phando Jikelo/African News Agency
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