Cape Town - A parent’s worst nightmare became reality on Tuesday morning when Asiphe Wonxi, a mother of two young girls and a boy, returned home from night shift to find her children missing from their home in Malema informal settlement at Brown’s Farm, Philippi.
However, late on Tuesday evening police reported that the children were reunited with their mother but said they were investigating a case of kidnapping.
Wonxi, a security guard, left for her night shift on Monday night, leaving her three children – Zukhanye Wonxi, 11, Enzo Wonxi, 4, and Akaklulwa Mpondo, 2 – at home while her neighbours kept an eye on them and the house.
“When I came home at around 7am this morning (yesterday), I found no one inside. Then I went to my neighbours to find out why my children were not in the house.
“That was when I was told that they overheard two people at my house last night, but they did not go to check what was going on.”
At about 9pm on Monday, neighbour Amanda Maqashu recalled hearing a male voice call out to Zukanye saying, “open the door to the house” and then heard a female voice saying, “come boy, let me put you on my back.”
Wonxi tried calling family to see if her children were with them but no one knew what was going on or where they could be. Then she went to Nyanga police station to report it while the community came to help her and searched the area for the youngsters.
Police spokesperson Joseph Swartbooi said reports suggested that a 29-year-old woman and her 30-year-old husband left their home in Malema informal settlement in Brown’s Farm, Philippi, at around 5pm on Monday, leaving two girls and a son at home.
“When they returned home from work early this morning, they knocked and became concerned when there was no response. When they eventually opened the door, the children were not inside the house. The parents enquired around the neighbourhood but to no avail,” Swartbooi said.
At 5pm on Tuesday, Swartbooi said the three children had been reunited with their parents and that Nyanga Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit were still investigating a case of kidnapping.