Rains pound each time family looks for missing child

A TSHOLOTSHO family is looking for information that may lead to the recovery of their two-year-old daughter who went missing mysteriously six days ago while playing with her nine-year-old brother in a bush near their homestead.

The young girl disappeared at Seafield Estate Village 1, Tsholotsho, Matabeleland North province. The father, Mr Mbekezeli Ncube, who was at work in Bulawayo when the child went missing, said his two-year-old daughter, Princess Ncube, was left at home by their mother with her brother Dalumuzi Sibanda (9) who suffers from Down’s Syndrome on Monday morning while she went to fetch water.

“We assume the two children tried to follow their mother to the dam where she had gone to fetch water and they could have possibly taken a wrong turn into the forest resulting in the disappearance of Princess. The mother had instructed them to go to their grandmother, but instead they followed her,” he told Sunday News.

He said they made a stopover at their neighbour’s vacant homestead to play from where they went into the bush hoping to reach the dam where their mother was fetching water. The mother, who thought they had gone to their grandmother’s place, noticed that the children were missing when she got back home while it was getting dark and tried tracing their footprints to see where they could have gone.

“Their footprints led them into a forest but what surprised us was that when we entered the forest it began raining and the footprints vanished. On the second day (Tuesday), we headed back to the forest and by the time we reached that area, it started raining again. We searched every possible place we thought we could find them in the forest until we managed to find Dalumuzi. When we returned home with him we tried asking him about his younger sister’s whereabouts, but unfortunately he failed to respond because of his disability. But every time we go searching for Princess, by the time we approach the forest, it begins to rain and we no longer know the meaning of it. We now think that if no one found her in the forest then maybe she is dead as the forest inhabits some of the dangerous creatures like pythons and hyenas.”

He said they further tried to ask for help from police at Nyamandlovu Police Station so that they could try find their daughter, but nothing has so far materialised.

“I made a police report on Wednesday and they said the Nyamandlovu Police Station does not have a dog section to assist in tracing the child. Also, since it has been raining it would be impossible for the dogs to catch the scent so they urged us to keep on trying to search for the child till now. We are still baffled by the fact that every time we approach the forest where we suspect her footprints were last seen it begins to rain, we are having other thoughts that this could be traditionally (spiritually) related. We are planning to sit down as a family and see what we can do concerning the traditional aspect so that we may somehow get to know the meaning behind it and how we can find the child. As the father I’m bothered by this and I do not even know what to do, so if anyone has information that may lead to her recovery, I humbly ask for help,” he said.

Anyone with information leading to the recovery of Princess Ncube may contact Mr Ncube on 0713114978 or 0775943813 or 0714272265.