IN TWEETS: Another child dies in Diepsloot, community stages peaceful protest
DIEPSLOOT – The body of a six-year-old boy who went missing in Diepsloot on 14 August was found in a stream in Extension 1.
Another Diepsloot child has died.
A six-year-old boy from Extension 1 of the informal settlement was reported as missing to the Diepsloot South African Police Service Station (Saps) on 14 August by his family, after he was last seen the day before. According to the police, after a three-day search, the child’s remains were found in a stream in the area.
“The boy’s body was discovered by community members, floating in the water on 16 August,” said Captain Tinyiko Mathebula, the communications officer for the Diepsloot police.
“The deceased had no visible injuries [when he was found]. The police are investigating an inquest.”
Mathebula told the Fourways Review that while the cause of death was not yet known by police, pending the results of an investigation, the boy may have drowned.
According to a statement released by the National Children and Violence Trust (NCVT), a non-governmental organisation that works in the area and that has been in contact with the family, the child was disabled and was last seen in his family’s yard.
“The child was reported to have been playing outside with a friend’s ball and his mother was inside the house [on the day he went missing],” the statement read in part.
“The child was supposedly following a friend when he walked out of the yard.”
This is the second child in the township to die in as many months, as the remains of 14-year-old Happy Khanyile were discovered on 10 July. She had been raped, mutilated and murdered by a still unknown assailant.
The NCVT organised a peaceful protest on 22 August to urge the police to arrest the perpetrators of crimes against children.
Journalist Robyn Kirk was there to capture the action:
https://twitter.com/RobyKirk/status/1032197436171845632
https://twitter.com/RobyKirk/status/1032200414152810497
https://twitter.com/RobyKirk/status/1032201983866941440
https://twitter.com/RobyKirk/status/1032203848050532352
https://twitter.com/RobyKirk/status/1032204088073756672
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