Woman home after going missing over 20 years ago
|Published
Cape Town - An Eerster River family were overjoyed after a miraculous reunion with their aunt, who disappeared without a trace more than 20 years ago.
Family of Jeanette van der Horst, 54, say they were shocked when her face suddenly appeared on a flyer on Tuesday after more than two decades of searching, as the teams from The Pink Ladies Missing Persons Organisation sought out her family.
The sickly woman was last seen in 2000 after the tragic death of her young son.
Pink Ladies representative Nadiema Salie says they were called to the Elsies River police station on Tuesday afternoon amid requests by police to help locate the family of the woman.
“A passer-by saw the elderly lady roaming the streets disoriented and decided to pick her up and drop her off at the police station. She could not speak clearly and that made it difficult to get information from her.
“When I arrived at the police station I found that she had difficulty with her speech due to a growth on her neck and left side of her mouth.
“She gave me an address in Melton Rose, Eerste River, and I contacted Leonora Fransman of Jaycee Foundation and Wendell Slabbert, a community worker in Eerste River, to assist in making contact with the family who lived there, but it came up as negative for the name she gave us,” Salie said.
The Pink Ladies team then obtained information about two more addresses where the woman’s sister could be living, but searches yielded no results and they immediately contacted the Social Development Department and asked social workers to assist.
The organisation released a flyer with Van der Horst’s image on social media and appealed for help in finding her family and this is when her niece, Samantha Lottering, called.
“During the telephone call it was established that Jeanette van der Horst was reported missing at Home Affairs in 2002,” said Salie. “This is a great tale of a miracle reunion.
“At the Pink Ladies Missing Persons Organisation we do not only work with missing persons but we also assist with domestic violence, assaults and counselling, to name a few.”
Lottering said they last saw her aunt when her son, Craig, passed away.
“We last saw her, what I can remember, is in the year 2000. That’s when she lost her son, who I believe was only five or six years old, and after his funeral we never saw her again.
“In 2002 my mother started searching for her.”
She says when visiting Home Affairs, the only information they could obtain was that her aunt had not been reported as deceased, so they opted to search all the places she was known to visit in Bellville, Lansdowne and Parow.
“She always worked as a domestic worker and we were used to her working away, coming home at the end of the month, bringing her daughter Elvida clothing and treats.
“Elvida and I are the same age and grew up like sisters.
“Elvida was taken in by my mother after her sister died and we grew up together like sisters and she would always ask my mother if there’s any news regarding her mother not coming any more.”
Lottering says the family was in disbelief when they saw the flyer.
“I received the poster and showed it to my mother and asked her if she knew who the woman was.
“She was shaking and said ‘really, don’t talk nonsense’.
“She told me to immediately call the contact numbers.
“It was a big shock to us and we let the rest of the family know.
“She’s doing much better. I can tell she remembers a lot of people who unfortunately passed on while she was missing.”
mahira.duval@inl.co.za
Cape Argus