With tensions high due to the increase in child abductions and human trafficking cases, what could have turned into a horrific story of a missing child turned into a story of a taxi driver who took it upon himself to save a young teen’s life.
On October 6, at around 18:00, taxi driver Mbongiseni Kehumalo noticed a teenage girl standing alone. When he approached her, she initially lied and said her mother works in Springs and she is waiting for her.
“I noticed after a while that she hadn’t left. The taxi rank was now empty and I was getting ready to leave. I went to her again and asked her where her mother was,” said Kehumalo.
It was then that the girl revealed she is a model who had left Giyani in Limpopo to come to Springs to meet an individual who had promised her a future in modelling.
She didn’t have money to go back home as she was promised to be reimbursed as soon as she arrived in Springs.
“The person who was saved as Vanessa on the girl’s phone sent this girl a picture of the hotel she was supposed to go to.
“I took it upon myself to take her there. She is a young girl, and it didn’t feel right to let her go anywhere alone at that time of the evening,” said Kehumalo.
When they arrived at the hotel, Kehumalo says he knew something was off and told the teen that he would not leave her there.
They then further texted Vanessa who told them she is at a local shopping centre. Kehumalo drove to the centre and found nobody there.
“At that moment, I knew something was wrong. I took the girl and asked a lady friend if she could sleep at her house. I left the girl with R40 and told her to catch a taxi in the morning and come back to the rank,” said Kehumalo.
The next morning, the teenager received a text from Vanessa, saying that she would not be giving her money to go back home as she did not adhere to her instructions.
Vanessa then offered only R40 for the teen to get to Thembisa. The distressed teen consulted the taxi drivers who told her to agree so they can lure Vanessa out and confront her.
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“Much to our shock and surprise, we found ourselves meeting a man instead of a woman,” said Kehumalo.
The man, who has since been arrested, had been posing as a woman, luring teenagers from all over into sending pictures of themselves including, but not limited to, nudes.
“What we saw on that phone will forever haunt me as a father. Picture upon a picture of naked young girls and lewd videos of this man and these girls filled the phone,” recalled taxi marshal for the Springs Long Distance Taxi Association, Jabulani Zwane.
The taxi driver asked the man to take them to Vanessa and he took them on a wild goose chase which led them back to the taxi rank.
They then alerted the police, who apprehended him and opened a case of possession of child pornography. He has since made his first appearance and his bail was set at R2 000.
“Children these days are too trusting of people they meet on the internet. This girl could have been kidnapped and trafficked without anyone being the wiser.
“People should know the world is a dark place and you must never give away personal information if you don’t know the person you are talking to. We as parents are tired of burying our children because of ignorance,” warned Zwane.
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