LIMPOPO – Tsundzuka Maluleke alleges her 10-year-old son returned from school last Monday before leaving home again to go and buy sweets from a nearby tuck shop.
She became worried when he had not returned an hour later.
“His friends came to alert me that my son had been locked up in a cage at the carwash across the street,” she explained.
Maluleke rushed to the scene, where she indeed found her son locked in a cage meant for storing tools and equipment.
“I could not free him as the person who had locked him in there, an employee of the car wash, had left with the keys.”
After three hours, the person had still not returned.
“I called the police to free him, but they told me to break the cage myself and rescue him as there was no police vehicle available,” the mother said.
“We stay roughly 2 km from the police station, they could simply have walked here to see what was happening.”
Maluleke waited helplessly until the person who had locked up her child returned.
She opened a case with the Giyani police the next day, but not without hiccups.
“When I arrived at the charge office, I was referred to the office of one of their seniors, Capt Makhubele, who told me he could not see merit in opening a case as my child was unharmed.
“He did, however, say he would refer me to the person who dealt with children.”
This person, she said took her statement, and that of her child, and also said there was not merit for the case.
“They said they didn’t know what type of case to open, and that the least they could do was to investigate what led the man to lock up my son.”
Two days later, Maluleke says she received a cell phone message with a case number.
Giyani Police Spokesperson, WO Inspector Thomas Makhubele urged the complainant to visit him so he could get to the bottom of the case.
“We encourage people to take the names of the officers who assist them for us to be able to deal with these matters timeously,” he said, promising to meet the complainant as soon as possible.
