The maternal grandparents of six-year-old Washu Tshihume, who disappeared from Lamvi village last Christmas Eve, said they were still hopeful that their grandson would return to them alive.
Little Washu was visiting his paternal grandparents when he mysteriously disappeared while playing with other children on 24 December 2022. Even though members of the community spent the whole week searching the entire area and nearby villages, they could not find the boy.
In an interview with Limpopo Mirror at the Gondeni section in Ha-Makuya village on Tuesday, Mr Takalani Manyatshe (Washu's maternal grandfather) said that each time he saw a school bus delivering other children from school, his heart bled, thinking about his grandson. "He had just passed Grade R when he disappeared and would have been doing Grade 1 this year. I don't even understand why the government is talking about Child Protection Week at the moment, when kids in this country are disappearing without a trace in the middle of the day," he said.
Washu's grandmother, Ms Tshilidzi Manyatshe, said she would never have peace in her heart until she knew what had happened to her grandson. "After he disappeared, the police promised us that they had established a provincial task team to look into the matter, but after five months, my grandson is still nowhere to be found. They don't even update us about their investigations. I pray that one day, God will intervene in this mysterious disappearance of my grandson. Someone has to answer as to what happened to him."
She said that she did not even know what to do with Washu's clothes. "What if I give them to other kids and he is found alive soon, or what if he comes back when they no longer fit him? When I look at them, tears start to roll down my face."
In a previous interview with Washu's mother, Murendeni Manyatshe (25), shortly after her son disappeared, she said all she wanted was to see the police docket. "My child's grandfather has told me different versions of how my son disappeared. I really need to see the docket. I am dying inside. Please, let me see the docket," she said.
During the interview with her parents on Tuesday, she said she still had not seen the docket. "I want to know what he (maternal grandfather) told the police about my son's disappearance. I don't know why they are not showing me the docket. It is clear that what he wrote there is not what he told me," she said.
According to her, the police last updated her about the case more than three months ago. "They don't feel the pain that I am feeling as a mother," she said.
On a national radio station this week, provincial police spokesperson Col Malesela Ledwaba said that a task team was currently investigating cases of missing children in the Vhembe District, including the case of Washu Tshihume.