Missing man last seen in Randfontein
Antoinette van der Walt's brother Pierre has been missing since the beginning of May and she desperately wants to bring him home.
“To others he is just another missing man, but he is my brother. I’m looking for my brother,” said a desperate Antoinette van der Walt.
She is the sister of the missing 46-year-old Johannes Pieter Jansen van Vuuren, better known on the West Rand as Pierre.
Pierre was last seen at his workplace in Randfontein on 1 May and it is believed that he then asked a friend for a lift to Krugersdorp West where he lived with his wife.
His sister explained that Pierre was in a vehicle accident a few years ago in which both his knees and ankles were crushed. After the accident he lived with Antoinette for seven years before going to live with his wife in Swartruggens.
In August 2020 Antoinette received a call from Pierre who asked her to please come and fetch him. He had been attacked which left him in a coma for two days.
She brought her brother home to Randfontein and organised for him to live with her daughter’s family in Hillside. After a while Pierre and his wife moved to Krugersdorp West and that is where he was last seen.
Antoinette explained that Pierre had sold a vehicle to her grandson and at the end of every month he would come and collect part of his payment.
“It wasn’t a lot, but it was a lot to him.”
She said even though her brother did his own thing he would always come by at the end of the month to collect the money and for a quick visit.
“All of a sudden we did not hear from him,” she said, adding that she became worried. She waited a while for him to show up, but eventually opened a missing persons case.
Antoinette has been to all the mortuaries, she has spoken to everyone on the street that might have known him, and she had looked for him at most of the shelters. Every time she was told that he was last seen a month ago.
“My brother has such a big heart. When he had a payout after his accident, he bought a bakkie and filled it with groceries, then he drove around to hand it out to every homeless person he could find.”
Making other people happy makes her brother happy, she added.
“He enjoys good food and he prepares good food,” she laughed.
Pierre has a slender build, grey hair and blue eyes, is 1,85m tall and weighs about 70kg. He has two tattoos – a dagger with a snake around it on his upper left arm, and another of his and his wife’s names written in Chinese characters.
Antoinette asked anyone with information to contact her on 082 636 6656, as the family believes he is somewhere in the Krugersdorp, Roodepoort, Westdene or Randfontein areas. The case has been registered with the Krugersdorp Police.
