One of the two girls who were reported missing at Mfabantfu has disappeared again. She reportedly disappeared from her relative’s place a day after she was placed by the police. This was revealed by the girls’ mother Simphiwe Mngometulu yesterday.
The mother was responding to allegations that she abused the girls, Setsabile Gina and Anifa Khumbane, both aged 16, which was why they left home.
The girls were reported missing on July 6, sending panic among their family and members of the public. They were found about five days later at Mbekelweni.
Khumbane was reportedly found by a woman of Mbekelweni who runs a liquor business at Soweto, while Gina was found at her maternal homestead in the same area.
According to the businesswoman, Bongiwe Dinenga, the two girls went past her business and they asked to leave Khumbane’s bag before they proceeded to Gina’s maternal homestead.
Dinenga said Khumbane came back and spent time at her business until it was late.
“She looked sober and innocent. She remained here until it was late such that some kombi operators tried to lure her. At closing time, I asked her where her home was and she said her father’s family lived near my home,” said Dinenga.
She added that she then took the girl to her home where she spent the night. Although the teenager had said her paternal family lived near her home, she said she did not know the exact home because she left when she was still young.
She said it was for this reason that in the morning, she called the local community police to inform them about the minor. Dinenga said in Khumbane’s bag, her birth certificate was found and it was only then that the community police realised that she was one of the teenagers who had been reported missing.
“She claimed to have left home because she and her sister were being beaten by their mother,” said Dinenga.
The minor was handed over to the Royal Eswatini Police Service and the whereabouts of Gina were also established.
According to the girls’ mother, this was not the first time that they left home without informing her. She also confirmed reports by this publication’s sources that on the night the teenagers went missing, they went on a drinking spree with men.
Mngometulu stated that while Gina was left at her maternal homestead in Mbekelweni, Khumbane asked the police to leave her at her relative’s home.
“She was left at my aunt’s home on a Friday, but around noon the following day she disappeared. I heard she was at a rented flat at Ticantfwini where there are other girls. The eldest of these girls is said to be 21,” said Mngometulu.
When asked if she had reported the men who were with her girls to the police, the mother said although she was aware that her daughters were also sexually active, she did not know who to report to the police because the minors allegedly had multiple sexual partners.
“I have given up on these girls. I had reported them to the police before, but they continue with their wayward behaviour. They even dropped out of school,” she said.
Mngometulu denied abusing any of the girls, but said she had only laid down a strict rule that they should not go to the shop because there were always boys. She reiterated that she was still making means to gather funds to cater for their admission at Vulamasango School, with the hope that they still could be reformed.
