Some personal items belonging to the missing Fiona Matodzi were found the past week, but no trace has been found yet of the girl who disappeared a year ago.
Fiona, who was a nine-year-old learner at Dzindi Primary School, mysteriously disappeared on 11 August last year. Clothing matching the description of those she was wearing at the time of her disappearance, along with schoolbooks bearing her name, were found by a hunter in the bushes at Tshivhuyuni village, next to the Gologodo River, around 19:00 on Wednesday, 6 September.
The acting spokesperson for the Vhembe SAPS, Sgt Vuledzani Dathi, said the police had received a report about the articles that had been found next to the river. "Police members proceeded to the crime scene, where they found three books with her name on [them], a black school bag, a blue-and-yellow tunic, a blue-and-yellow jersey, a pair of underwear, a pair of school shoes, pantyhose (mugusha), and a ribbon. The items were positively identified by the mother of the girl, Ms Mulalo Mufunwaini," said Dathi.
As soon as news of the discovery was made known, community members, joined by the police's K9 unit, combed the whole area. The girl, however, was nowhere to be found. The following day, they resumed the search, with no better luck.
One of the community members, who did not want to be identified, said she believed the girl was hidden somewhere, and that the captor might have panicked. "Look at the books, they are still clean. If they were exposed to rain since last year, they would be damaged by now. The girl might be still alive and kept captive somewhere," she said.