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No charges after alleged abduction Justin Steyn A Bela-Bela mother says she will not press any charges after her son was allegedly abducted to an initiation school. Photo: Justin Steyn
A woman from Bela-Bela says that she will not lay charges against anyone after her 10-year-old son was allegedly abducted. The woman, who did not want to be named, said that when she arrived at her home in Extension 5 of the BelaBela Township on Friday, 10 June, her son was not home. “I came home from work and noticed that my youngest son was not at home. I asked his siblings where he was and they said that he had not come home from
school,” she said. She said that she asked the neighbours’ son, who is friends with her son, if he had seen her boy. He told her that they had been approached earlier in the day by two teenage boys who tried to lure them to a place where they would be given “all sorts of goodies.” The boy said that her son left with them, but that he himself had been reluctant to go along. The woman said that she immediately approached the local police for help, as she immediately thought that he had been taken to an initiation camp. One of the officers on duty allegedly told her that the officers responsible for such incidents would only be available on Monday, 13 June. By 21:00, her son had already been missing for nearly six hours. The woman said that she spent the weekend in a terrible emotional state, trying to keep up with household chores while frantic for her son’s safety.
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“I couldn’t eat or sleep for the whole weekend. I tried to do household chores while looking for my son. It was terrible,” she said. On Monday, she returned to the police station. Shortly afterward, after an investigation, a man was apprehended at a secluded area in Extension 8, with the woman’s son. The man allegedly demanded R250 for the boy’s keep over the weekend, and insisted that she sign a written contract to allow her son to take part in the initiation. The boy’s mother said that the man pleaded with her not to lay charges when he was apprehended. “Although I was very angry, I decided not to lay charges and was just happy that I had my son back safe.” She said that he seemed to have been well-looked after and was not permitted to take part in the initiation. He has since been circumcised at the Bela-Bela hospital, as his mother says that she does not agree with the practice of sending boys to initiation schools. Lieutenant-Colonel Abel Phetla of the Bela-Bela Police told The BEAT that although no charges have been laid, an investigation is being conducted regarding the school’s legitimacy. “Other young boys were also found at the school, but no papers regarding its legitimacy could be presented,” he said. “We are investigating the matter.”