The saga of a 14-year-old girl who was found three weeks after disappearing from her father’s custody and her school has ended in a temporary agreement.
The matter, reported recently in Alex News, has partially ended with her returning to Pholosho Junior Secondary School on 31 August after a temporary truce between her father Eseuvao Namarogolo and mother Juliet Madinane and facilitated by Elizabeth Mokwena of Victim Empowerment Unit at the Alexandra Police Station.
Read: Father and daughter get reunited
Mokwena said a referral letter from social workers at the unit supported her return to school while the matter was being probed further. The teenager is supposed to write her final Grade 7 examinations in a few weeks time. She was found in Orange Farm, south of Joburg with her mother who alleged the child came to her voluntarily. The mother claimed that Namarogolo who lives in Organic Market, Kew was harsh to her and the child and, she was unaware that her daughter had been reported missing.
Mokwena said, “Matters of children’s rights should never be compromised especially where a court has determined a child’s custody.
In this instance, custody of the child was granted to the father after the mother abandoned her three days after birth.”
In previous articles, reference was made to a non-profit organisation which had supported the father’s application for the child’s custody in 2006, the Children’s Court granting the custody in July 2015 and, the father’s keenness to ensure the child’s education as her safeguard against a bleak future. During her absence, he bought her a new school uniform, stationery and clothes to encourage her to return to school.
Mokwena said the agreement would see the child stay temporarily with a third party under conditions agreed to by the father while the matter was probed further and if needed be will go through the courts.
Details: Victim Empowerment Unit 011 321 7621.
