WHERE ARE THEY ALL?

As the search for Joshlin Smith goeson, 9S a leading criminologist tells YOU about 4% the tragedy of SAs missing children

- JANICE BECKETT-MSIZA

REBECCA Mashigo, Rei Manuel, Shandrifa Louw, R Baratang Makinta. The names go on and on, a grim roll call of missing children on a seemingly endless list.

The children all went missing in South Africa around the time Joshlin Smith disappeared in Saldanha Bay but they, like thousands of others, will remain unknown.

Bianca van Aswegen knows the situation only too well - her job as a criminologist and national coordinator for the non-profit organisation Missing Children South Africa has given her firsthand knowledge of a world where children become statistics, their cases gone cold and their names often forgotten.

Every now and then, one case stands out, gripping the national interest and making headlines. Joshlin was such a case, Bianca says, and although the story is distressing it has helped shine the spotlight on the scourge of missing kids.

At the time of going to print the sixyear-old still hadn't been found and her mother, Kelly Smith, along with her mom's boyfriend, Jacquen Appollis, as well as Steveno van Rhyn and Phumza Sigaqa, had been arrested on charges of human trafficking and kidnapping.

Joshlin's case could be compared to that of Madeleine McCann, Bianca says, referring to the British girl who was three when she vanished from a holiday resort in Portugal in 2007.

"The McCann case is the biggest missing person case in the world," Bianca adds. "With all the publicity around Joshlin's case, it could be called South Africa's version of the Madeleine case." News reports around Joshlin's disappearance and social media interest helped spread the word but it also saw many amateur sleuths carrying out their own investigations and sending out false messages.

"It put a lot of pressure on the investigation," Bianca says. "Every single missing child's case should get this kind of attention but communities need to work with the authorities so they don't hinder the investigation.