Tears of joy flowed when a 16-year-old girl who had disappeared without a trace in July last year was reunited with her family at Mulodi village last Thursday. This came after the story of the disappearance of Tshavhungwa Mmbengwa was reported in the Limpopo Mirror.
Speaking to the newspaper at her house in Mulodi village on Saturday afternoon, Ms Rendani Mushaphi said she had received telephone calls from some of the newspaper's readers, saying they had seen her daughter in the Thohoyandou area. "I could not believe it at first, but after the third call, I rushed to town and found my beloved daughter walking alone next to one of the big grocery shops. It looks like there was someone who knows me who was with her," she said.
She mentioned that she had been searching for her daughter everywhere for the past six months without success, but for the media to help her family trace their beloved daughter had taken less than a day. Ms Mushaphi said she had immediately phoned the police to inform them that her daughter had been found alive. When asked where she had been for the past six months, the shy-looking and frightened Tshavhungwa Mmbengwa said she had been taken by unknown people, together with four other girls from Vuwani, to Pretoria, where they had been taken to a secret house.
Ms Mushaphi said that her daughter was still very traumatised and did not want to talk about the incident. "I am only happy that my daughter is back home and safe," she said.