Joshlin joins long list of missing girls in South Africa

The Citizen

30-05-2025

Joshlin Smith's abduction reflects South Africa's worsening crisis of missing girls and deep-seated human trafficking and exploitation issues.
T-shirt with Joshlin Smith's face outside court during the delivery of judgment in the Joshlin Smith kidnapping trial at White City Multipurpose Centre on May 02, 2025 in Saldanha Bay, South Africa. (Photo by Gallo Images/Brenton Geach)
Even as her mother was jailed for life yesterday, the real tragedy about Joshlin Smith's disappearance is that she joins a long line of missing girls over the past three decades.
Their names made global headlines. Never forgotten. They are Joan Horn, Odette Boucher, Anne-Marie Wapenaar, Yolanda Wessels and Fiona Harvey.
Six teenagers who went missing in the '80s as victims of paedophile Gert van Rooyen and his lover Joey Haarhoff. A three-year-old, Madeleine McCann, disappeared while on holiday with her family in Portugal in 2007.
Gert van Rooyen's victims
Some children are lucky and have been saved.
Marius van der Merwe of QRF Task Team is frequently called in to aid with extractions of trafficked or kidnapped minors. He said the chances of finding Joshlin alive are slim.
'Once her mother took the money, that's it,' he said. 'You'll never see her again. It's like a car. Once you've paid for a voetstoots sale, you drive off and never see the seller again.'
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He noted, as with previous cases of child trafficking that he was involved in, the motive for the sale of a child is economic circumstance or a dependency on drugs.
Three years ago, he said, a case like Joshlin's saw parents sell their daughter for R50 000.
On a tip-off, Van der Merwe, along with law enforcement, raided and extracted the toddler from the trafficker's den in Joburg.
Case similar to Joshlin's three years ago
'She was a few days away from being sold,' he said. 'And then she'd have been gone, forever.'
It is rare children are kidnapped, stolen, or sold, to childless couples who just want a kid of their own, Van der Merwe said.
'It's not that it never happens, but at least in instances like that you know the child will end up in a home where they are wanted and cared for.'
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In Madeleine McCann's case, Portuguese journalist Brendan de Beer has been investigating and covering the story for The Guardian and BBC's Panorama for some time. He said the parents were ruled out and so was human trafficking.
'A few other suspects have emerged as time's gone on, but nobody's been charged with it,' he said.
'It would appear the consensus among those who've investigated the case, is it was a crime of opportunity, as opposed to being part of an organised human trafficking network, which potentially would have made the job of police a lot easier had they known who to look for.'
Kate McCann, mother of Madeleine, who disappeared in Portugal; Anne-Marie Wapenaar; Fiona Harvey; Yolanda Wessels; Odette Boucher and Joan Horn. Pictures: AFP and Gallo Images
Van Rooyen six remain missing 35 years on
The Van Rooyen six remain missing 35 years on. This despite a massive effort by law enforcement to solve the crime.
'Young girls are traded or stolen for two primary reasons,' Van der Merwe said.
'They are either sold as sex slaves or, if they are very young, raised to become sex slaves.
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'Then, there are also paedophile rings who pay a premium for them, or they are sold off for human muti, slaughtered for their body parts. Particularly if they had attractive physical characteristics.'
Van der Merwe said body parts like eyes, skin or organs are heavily traded in on the dark market, particularly north of the border.
He added there are several syndicates in operation in South Africa and that it works like a well-oiled machine.
Several syndicates operate in SA
'When a girl is 15 years old, she's ready to be put on the table, for sale,' another source said. Van der Merwe said the export market is often divided by race.
'African children are more likely to end up on the continent, while fairer females are often exported to the gulf region,' he said.
Recently reports and testimonial videos of girls being followed around Pretoria shopping malls also surfaced on social media over the past few months.
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The mother of a 15-year-old girl said her daughter was stalked at a neighbourhood shopping centre in the eastern suburbs of the capital recently.
'We had to confront the white male in his early 30s,' she said.
Van der Merwe said there is substance to these narratives, but that social media posts are potentially diluting and sensationalising what's going on.
Substance in narratives
A former police operative said South Africa is becoming the human trafficking capital of the world.
'People need to see the warning signs attached to the Joshlin case and wake up to the reality.'