Cape Town - The Mayor of Saldanha Bay has described Joshlin Smith as a symbol of hope for all children who have gone missing.

Alderman Andre Truter said this as he walked down memory lane, a year after the six-year-old girl disappeared from her Middelpos, Diazville community.

Her mother Racquel ‘Kelly’ Smith said she left Joshlin with her boyfriend Jacquen Appollis.

Weeks later the couple and their friends Steveno van Rhyn and Lourentia Lombaard were arrested. Phumza Sigaqa, the girl’s neighbour was also detained but was later released due to a lack of evidence.

The trial is set to commence on 3 March in Diazville.

Truter said as soon as he had heard that a child was missing his reaction, as the father of a daughter,as a grandfather and as a community member was one of distress.

“My immediate response was, we must assist, and especially when I heard the age of the young girl. I asked the community to come together the day after her disappearance to start searching for Joshlin. We were not going to play politics, it was about the little girl, so we made it about her. And I must say, there was fantastic cooperation.

“Using the power of the community numbers we searched, block for block so that we could assist the police, we were always there to support the SAPS.

“I must say, I was touched. In fact, I was often close to tears when I saw old ‘tannies’ and people using walking sticks, stepping forward to help.

“So it was a wonderful sign of solidarity in a community. And it was multiracial, it was multi religious. It just wasn't a dividing factor at that stage. Everything was about, let's focus on trust and finding Joshlin. Towards the end of the week, things started winding down a bit, and I read in the media, of course, that the police were running out of resources.”

Truter said a Good Samaritan offered a reward for positive information about the six-year-old’s disappearance.

“I posted on my Facebook page to keep people informed and a lady who wanted to remain anonymous came forward and she said she’d put up R20,000 for the recovery of Joshlin.

“Almost immediately another person stepped forward and matched this. We put conditions on the reward. The money was actually paid into the municipal bank account, and we put a time span on it. If it didn't materialise in that time, it would be paid back to the donors. In fact, it was later paid to the neighbourhood watch members to assist them in their work on the request of the kind lady who donated this money.”

The number of people searching has over the year dwindled but police are still investigating.

The investigating officer in the Western Cape’s Organised Crime Unit Captain Wesley Lombaard said: “The search is still going on, the police never stopped. The incident was reported in February, the search started then and continues.

“Our offices were contacted on 29 February 2024 to be part of the investigation and we travelled to Saldanha Bay to assist.

“We pulled in our resources like crime prevention, visible policing, the K9-Units, the Local Criminal Records Centre (LCRC) in the area, the Seaboard of policing and detectives. We also had drones that assisted us with the search.

“The City of Cape Town gave assistance with the municipal policing, law enforcement and the community helped.

“There were a lot of us, some days we would have over 300 officers, excluding community members, so there was a big contingent of policing looking for Joshlin.”

He said they followed each lead they got from members of the public.

“We received information from various sources and there were incidents where people said they saw Joshlin at shopping centres, bus stops and different public areas. There were people alleging they saw a child who looked like Joshlin in the Northern Cape, Eastern Cape and Johannesburg and even in other parts of the Western Cape such as Sutherland.

“All of those were followed up by the investigators.

“Our investigation was intelligence-driven, there were different mediums and traditional healers who reached out to us. We made use of surveillance and also section 205 in terms of the Criminal Procedure Act, and carried out banking and cell phone investigations.”

Lombard explained the leads also suggested that the six-year-old may have been shipped to an overseas country.

“There were reports that a child was shipped out of the country via Saldanha harbour. Our offices interacted with Interpol which assisted us. In March 2024 a vessel was searched in the waters in the United Kingdom (UK) but that yielded a negative result. Interpol will always support our investigations.”

The investigating officer said a missing person case is high priority for the police. “We don’t want any child to go missing. There are many kids and adults who went missing and were never found.”

Although the investigation has been partially concluded, Lombard said there is a possibility of additional charges and suspects.

“What makes Joshlin unique is that a whole community became one unit and they had one objective which was to find her. We have to give credit to the community of Saldanha for their support,” he said.

Truter said Joshlin remains a beacon of hope.

“Joshlin is a voice for the voiceless.”

Cape Argus