The family of Vhutali Mukwevho (16) from Tshiendeulu village in Nzhelele, who went missing in January this year, are losing hope of finding him.
Vhutali disappeared shortly after visiting his grandmother at Bunzhe village, which is more than 50 km from Tshiendeulu village. Since his disappearance, community members have been left with many questions, with some suspecting that the boy might have been killed for muti purposes.
His mother, Ndivhuwo Mukwevho, told Limpopo Mirror that when Vhutali had gone missing, the case had been reported to the community headman instead of the police. Why the matter was not immediately reported to the police is unclear to the family.
Mukwevho said that the case had been reported to the police on Wednesday, 17 January, but that they had received little to no support. The family wanted the police to start patrolling the village and also arrest a person they believed could be linked to the case.
Concerned residents held a peaceful march to the Siloam police station on 24 May to hand over a memorandum of grievances, following several cases where young people went missing.
Mr Azwivhadini Magandi, a community leader, said they felt the police were failing them as they had several cases of missing individuals. "The police are not doing anything to assist us regarding the case of the missing child, and we are losing hope. We would be happy if they can arrest someone or the child comes back," he said.
The memorandum was handed over to station commissioner Lt-Col Adziambei, who promised that they would respond within a week.