Latest news with #AmandaSmithDaniels
News24
5 days ago
- Business
- News24
SA reacts to teen's actuary degree; Matlala's wife in custody: Top 7 stories in 7 minutes
News24 brings you the top stories of the day, summarised into neat little packages. Read through quickly or listen to the articles via our customised text-to-speech feature. 'Please delete, worried my mother will see': SA reacts to 17-year-old's actuary degree Mongiwa Hazel Ntuli, at 17, earned an actuarial science degree from the University of Pretoria, becoming the first graduate in her family. Ntuli's achievement sparked widespread admiration and humour on social media, with users reflecting on their own experiences at 17. Her story is celebrated as an inspiring example of perseverance, brilliance and belief in one's potential. READ MORE SAPS/Supplied Olorato Mongale: KZN mother released amid allegations of tipping off wanted son Philangenkosi Makhanya, wanted for the murder of Olorato Mongale, was killed in a police shootout after allegedly being tipped off by his mother. Makhanya was linked to multiple kidnapping cases and found with numerous IDs and cellphones, suggesting a wider criminal network. Police are investigating Makhanya's associates and the source of the IDs and cellphones, while also searching for another suspect believed to have fled to Zimbabwe. Lisalee Solomons/News24 'She did not want to see me': Kelly Smith refuses to say goodbye to mom after sentencing Racquel "Kelly" Smith refused to see her mother, Amanda Smith-Daniels, after receiving a life sentence for kidnapping and trafficking her daughter, Joshlin. Amanda Smith-Daniels plans to legally adopt Smith's two other children and provide them with stability and love in the Northern Cape. Smith-Daniels expressed her belief that Joshlin is still alive and will be found, while also thanking the community and authorities for their work on the case. READ MORE Picture: Thahasello Mphatsoe/Graphic: Sharlene Rood/News24 'Cat' Matlala's wife appears in court, remanded in custody until next week Tsakani Matlala was arrested and charged in connection with the 2023 attempted hit on Tebogo Thobejane. She appeared in court alongside her husband, Vusimusi Matlala, and their case was postponed for bail applications. The other two accused in the case are also linked to a separate murder and will have their case transferred to the High Court. READ MORE Supplied/Absa Absa names new leaders for its retail and business banking units Absa has appointed Christine Wu and Geoffrey Lee as interim co-CEOs of personal and private banking and Faisal Mkhize as CEO of business banking, effective 2 June. This follows Absa's December announcement to restructure its South African retail banking operations, reversing changes made under former CEO Arrie Rautenbach. The announcement comes shortly after Absa named Kenny Fihla as its new CEO, with Charles Russon remaining interim CEO until Fihla's arrival on 17 June. 'We're not here to entertain': Sharks boss Plumtree prepared to win 'ugly' Sharks coach John Plumtree is unconcerned with the aesthetics of his team's play as long as they secure a win in their URC quarter-final against Munster. Plumtree emphasises the importance of winning, even if it means playing "ugly", and focuses on key aspects like set pieces and defence rather than prioritising high scores. The Sharks will field a star-studded lineup, including 12 Springboks, for the crucial match against Munster, with Plumtree highlighting the benefit of having key players available. Durban's Metro FM Awards hosting in limbo as talks for R30 million bid 'still under way' Metro FM says negotiations are ongoing regarding the host of the next Metro FM Music Awards. The eThekwini municipality reportedly earmarked R30 million over three years to host the awards. This comes after KZN withdrew from hosting the 2023 South African Music Awards.
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- General
- Daily Mail
Mom who sold her daughter, six, after 'healer' wanted child is jailed for life
A mother who sold her six-year-old daughter to a 'healer' for just $1,100 has been jailed for life in South Africa. Racquel 'Kelly' Smith, 35, was convicted of kidnapping and trafficking along with her boyfriend Jacquen Appollis and their friend Steveno van Rhyn. Little Joshlin Smith, who has a fair complexion and turquoise eyes, disappeared last February after vanishing outside her home in Saldanha Bay, near Cape Town - and has not been seen since. A court heard during the six-week trial how Smith was sought out by a 'healer' for her 'light eyes and skin', with the mother reportedly receiving around $1,100 for her. 'On the human trafficking charge, you are sentenced to life imprisonment. On the kidnapping charge, you are sentenced to 10 years imprisonment,' Judge Nathan Erasmus told the trio. He said he 'drew no distinction' from each other in their evil crime and the cold-hearted group showed no emotion as their sentences were read out. The shocking trial has captivated South Africa for the last few months, with Joshlin still missing despite a major search operation. Joshlin's grandmother, who now cares for her daughter's eldest child, pleaded with Smith ahead of the sentence to 'bring my [grand]child back or tell me where she is'. Amanda Smith-Daniels later told local broadcaster Newzroom Afrika that 'I don't feel that any sentence they get will bring my grandchild back.' Her family has been left 'broken', she said, and she condemned her daughter for blaming others over the tragedy when she 'was the person that did the deed'. 'How do you sleep [and] live with yourself?' she asked the callous mother in her victim statement on Wednesday after it was revealed by a social worker Joshlin had been living a life of neglect. Smith and her accomplices refused to testify during the trial or call on any witnesses for their defense but more than 30 people were brought in to tell the court about Joshlin's troubled life and disappearance. Lourentia Lombaard, Smith's friend and neighbor, told the community center - acting as a court so locals could attend - that Smith had admitted to her she had done 'something silly' in a shocking confession. In the days before Joshlin disappeared, the mother confessed to her that she had sold her child to a 'sangoma' - a traditional healer. Lourentia said she later saw Smith pack some of Joshlin's clothing into a black bag, which she was carrying when she met a woman she believes was the sangoma. Smith climbed into a white car with Joshlin and the sangoma and they drove away, according to Lourentia. One of Joshlin's teachers said Smith told them during one of the searches for Joshlin that she was already 'on a ship, inside a container, and they were on the way to West Africa'. The court also heard from a local pastor who said that he heard Smith, who has three children, talk about selling them for 20,000 rand, which is the equivalent of $1,100. Smith had allegedly been happy to settle for even less, willing to sell Joshlin for $250. A social worker tasked with writing a report on the trio wrote that it would not be a 'stretch to conclude that Smith is the mastermind behind the trafficking of her own daughter'. She also spoke about how Smith was said to have a history of drug abuse since she was 15 and was an addict when Joshlin was born. It took her five months to register the child's birth. Amanda kicked her out of her house because of her abuse after she had threatened to stab her own son. Intermittently living at a shelter for abused women, Smith would then be abusive to her own children when she was high. She eventually went to rehab and Joshlin lived with family friends who tried to adopt her. The parents blocked the adoption bid but Joshlin still managed to spend weekends with them and go on trips. 'We could have provided for her better than her mother,' Natasha Andrews said during the trial. It was only once all the victim statements had been read yesterday alongside a video clip of Joshlin laughing on holiday with the Andrews family that Smith finally cried. Joshlin's father, Jose Emke, also broke down and had to be carried out of the courtroom. Natasha said she wanted to share the video because 'so many people… don't know what Joshlin sounds like'. The youngster was described by her teacher Edna Maart as 'very tidy' and a quiet pupil. A woman believed to be the sangoma was arrested alongside the other defendants last year, but the charges against her were dropped due to a lack of evidence. Sangomas are recognized in South Africa under the Traditional Health Practitioners Act of 2007. It is believed they can access ancestral spirits who guide their healing. In March, police said children's clothing had been recovered near the settlement of small houses where Joshlin lived and was sent to a laboratory for forensic examination. Community members who are also involved in the search said the clothing was spattered with blood and a knife was also found. Police didn't give any more details on what was discovered. Western Cape province police commissioner Thembisile Patekile told reporters during the trial that more arrests could be made, but authorities also had to re-focus on the search for Joshlin. 'At this stage, we do not have a child,' he said. 'Our ultimate goal is to find the child. We still want to find that child alive.'
BBC News
6 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Joshlin Smith sentencing: Tears and heartbreak over tragic story of South African girl sold by her mother
A video clip of a laughing Joshlin Smith, who was six years old when she went missing more than a year ago in South Africa, left most people in the courtroom was shown during a hearing in Saldanha Bay, near Cape Town, ahead of the sentencing of Joshlin's mother - a drug addict who is believed to have sold her for Smith, also known as Kelly Smith, was convicted of kidnapping and trafficking her daughter earlier this month. The 35-year-old mother of three was found guilty along with her boyfriend Jacquen Appollis and their friend Steveno van the court interpreter could not hold back her tears as she translated the victim impact statements into English.A court official read out those statements first in Afrikaans, the language spoken by those in the impoverished Middelpos informal settlement of Saldanha Bay, where Joshlin had their own words, Joshlin's grandmother, the family friend who had wanted to adopt Joshlin and her teacher spoke of their pain and bewilderment about how she could have been sold by her witness during the trial had alleged this was to a traditional healer, known in South Africa as a "sangoma", who wanted Joshlin for "her eyes and skin". A local pastor also testified that he had once heard Smith talk of selling her children for 20,000 rand ($1,100; £850) each, but would have been willing to accept a lower figure of $275."How do you sleep [and] live with yourself?" a devastated Amanda Smith-Daniels, who is looking after her other two grandchildren, asked her daughter in her victim statement on and her co-accused refused to take the stand during the six-week trial that began in March and was held at a community centre in Saldanha to allow the wider community to attend as Joshlin's mother heard the statements on Wednesday and saw the video clip, she sobbed teacher, Edna Maart, described the little girl as a quiet pupil who was "very tidy".She said she struggled with daily questions from Joshlin's schoolmates about her not to forget her, she said the class listened to her favourite gospel song - God Will Work It Out - at the start of every school day. It was also played to a teary courtroom on this day no-one knows what has happened to Joshlin. Her disappearance on 19 February 2024 caused shockwaves countrywide. Bianca van Aswegen, a criminologist and national co-ordinator at Missing Children South Africa, likened it to the case of Madeleine McCann, a British girl who went missing in Portugal in was aged three when she vanished from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in the Algarve - and hers is one of the most high-profile, unsolved missing person cases in the Van Aswegen told the BBC that while the trio's conviction in Joshlin's case had given people a sense of relief, "the matter of fact is that nobody knows where Joshlin is and I think that's the big question that South Africa is still asking".A picture of Joshlin's troubled life emerged during the trial - and a better sense of her personality during this week's hearings ahead of was born in October 2017, to Smith and her former partner Jose Emke, who broke down on Wednesday and had to be carried out of the second child - she and her older brother, now 11, had both suffered from neglect, according to a social worker who testified during the up, Kelly Smith had lived with her maternal grandmother and had struggled with substance abuse since she was 15 - often becoming abusive towards her and her children when she was high, social workers said.A report prepared by a social worker for the sentencing hearing paints a stark picture of Smith's drug addiction at the time of Joshlin's grandmother had kicked Smith out of the family home because of her drug use and she had threatened to stab her own son at that judge noted that it took Smith five months to register Joshlin's birth - by law this must be done within 30 days - and had lived intermittently at a shelter for abused she went into rehab later on, family friend Natasha Andrews stepped in to care for Joshlin - and she and her husband had wanted to adopt her."We could have provided for her better than her mother," Ms Andrews said during the trial, but the plans fell apart in 2018 as the parents "wouldn't agree" to this, Joshlin often visited the Andrews family for weekends and school holidays and would go on trips with clip shown in court on Wednesday of Joshlin laughing was from one of those holidays and formed part of Ms Andrews' victim shared this and other photos of Joshlin playing with her own daughter because "so many people… don't know what Joshlin sounds like", she was this and her description of her family's pain that sparked the greatest outpouring of emotion in the grew up in a corrugated iron structure located in Middelpos informal settlement with her mother, her mother's partner, her brother and younger social workers' report described the shack as offering "little in the way of privacy due to its highly restrictive living space". Smith did odd jobs to support her family, including part-time domestic work for Kelly Zeegers, who lived with her family in a nearby neighbourhood and paid her with groceries instead of cash."This is to make sure that she and the children have a plate of food," Ms Zeegers said during her witnesses did describe Smith as a good mother; her sister told the court Joshlin was the spitting image of her mum when she was little that is known of what happened to Joshlin on the day she disappeared is thanks to Laurentia Lombaard, who turned state witness. She had been at the shack smoking drugs with Appollis and Van Rhyn at the explained that Joshlin, who had started school a few weeks before her disappearance, and her brother had stayed at home that day because they did not have clean children had been mainly left in the care of Appollis as Smith was in and out during course of the day, occasionally returning to is not clear exactly how or when Joshlin went missing but the trial established it was some time during the afternoon - but the preoccupation of most of the adults meant the disappearance was only reported to the police at 21: social worker appointed to compile the report on the trio ahead of their sentencing described Smith as "manipulative" and someone who told "bald-faced lies"."It is therefore not a stretch to conclude that Smith is the mastermind behind the trafficking of her own daughter," he said. Ms Van Aswegen said she hoped the trio would be given "a proper sentence" that reflected a growing crisis in child trafficking."It is much more of a crisis than police stats actually show us due to the fact of many cases going unreported," she told the said what was unusual in Joshlin's case was that it had captured the whole nation."I have never really seen a case blow up like this in South Africa before [and] neither have we seen such a big search for a missing child. I think social media played a big role [and] we had political parties get involved in the case."According to South African news site IOL, 632 children were reported missing last year and 8,743 over the past 10 this month, police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said many children were eventually reunited with their Van Aswegen said this showed that one could never give up hope and the search for Joshlin would hope was reflected most by the Andrews family during the sentencing hearing.A poem written by Ms Andrews' 14-year-old daughter Tayla was also read out about the pain of not knowing what had happened to Joshlin and her hope that she was safe."We just want to hug you again," Ms Andrews' said in her statement. "You are our flower, our baby and our green-eyed child." You may also be interested in: Joshlin Smith: A six-year-old's disappearance spreads fear in South Africa's Saldhana Bay'The selfie that revealed I was a stolen baby' Go to for more news from the African us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica
