Missing siblings found in Gugulethu
11 December 2009, 07:22
By Jason Warner
The brother and sister who went missing from a Laingsburg petrol station last Friday have been found safe in the Western Cape after boarding another taxi bound for the Eastern Cape.
Six-year-old Okuhle Maqhubela and her younger brother, three-year-old Mabaxole Maqhubela, were yesterday found in Gugulethu, where they had been staying with a relative of a taxi driver.
The siblings were on their way from East London to Kosovo, Philippi, where they were to meet their mother Nomsa Maqhubela on her 29th birthday.
They had been sent to live with Maqhubela's aunt in Mooiplaas, East London as Nomsa feared for their safety in the city. At a stopover in Laingsburg, the children had left the Toyota Quantum taxi with other passengers to use the restroom. After returning, the passengers noticed the two were missing.
Laingsburg police spokesperson Lindikhaya Mkhontwana said they made a breakthrough after members of the public provided police with accurate information.
Mkhontwana said the children were found at the Stork Road Bus Terminus with the driver of another Toyota Quantum taxi. It was thought they had boarded this taxi after not being able to find theirs.
"The taxi drove with them to Mthatha in the Eastern Cape on Friday and they drove back to Cape Town with the same taxi."
Mkhontwana said the driver then contacted the taxi owner and told him of the situation.
"They kept the children under the care of the taxi owner's sister at Tambo Village in Gugulethu."
jason.warner@inl.co.za
The brother and sister who went missing from a Laingsburg petrol station last Friday have been found safe in the Western Cape after boarding another taxi bound for the Eastern Cape.
Six-year-old Okuhle Maqhubela and her younger brother, three-year-old Mabaxole Maqhubela, were yesterday found in Gugulethu, where they had been staying with a relative of a taxi driver.
The siblings were on their way from East London to Kosovo, Philippi, where they were to meet their mother Nomsa Maqhubela on her 29th birthday.
They had been sent to live with Maqhubela's aunt in Mooiplaas, East London as Nomsa feared for their safety in the city. At a stopover in Laingsburg, the children had left the Toyota Quantum taxi with other passengers to use the restroom. After returning, the passengers noticed the two were missing.
Laingsburg police spokesperson Lindikhaya Mkhontwana said they made a breakthrough after members of the public provided police with accurate information.
Mkhontwana said the children were found at the Stork Road Bus Terminus with the driver of another Toyota Quantum taxi. It was thought they had boarded this taxi after not being able to find theirs.
"The taxi drove with them to Mthatha in the Eastern Cape on Friday and they drove back to Cape Town with the same taxi."
Mkhontwana said the driver then contacted the taxi owner and told him of the situation.
"They kept the children under the care of the taxi owner's sister at Tambo Village in Gugulethu."
jason.warner@inl.co.za
- This article was originally published on page 1 of The Cape Times on December 11, 2009
Cape Town
