Tensions are high in the Bontleng area of Gaborone after a three-year-old toddler reported missing on Tuesday was found dead in a scrappy disused vehicle shell in the yard next door to his home.
The area councilor has appealed to residents to remain calm and urged members of the public not to take the law into their own hands as authorities are investigating the matter.
Detective Assistant Superintendent Maziba Duna of Urban Police Station in Gaborone stated that his station is investigating an incident in which a three-year-old boy went missing only for his decomposing body to be found on Thursday evening.
Duna said that last week Tuesday, his station received a missing child’s report and a docket was opened. Two days later, however, the body of the missing child was found inside a motor vehicle shell.
“I would not want to speculate on whether the child could have been murdered or not because the matter is still being investigated,” said Duna.
He only stated that investigations had commenced and that a post-mortem would be conducted.
Duna said that they had not yet arrested anyone in connection with the incident.
The grandmother of the deceased child, Hilda Mosielele, told the Sunday Standard that on Tuesday morning around eight, between the child went outside the yard to play with his age mates near-by.
She said after a while, she went out to look for him but he could not find the boy. She then asked neighbours to assist in the search and many people came to help.
“At around seven in the evening I went to urban police station to report the child as missing,” she said.
The grandmother further said that, on the following day, both the police and the public came to look for the child but yielded nothing.
On Thursday afternoon, somebody came to her and told her that he had seen the dead body of a child inside a disused car.
“I could not believe what the gentleman told me and I called some of the family members to listen to what he was saying. Family members later went to the scene to confirm whether it was him or not,” she said. “I strongly believe that my grand child has been murdered.”
She wondered how the child managed to get inside the car because the very same car he was found in was searched for two days and he was not inside it.
She thanked the people who came to assist in the search for the child.
The area councilor, Olebogeng Kemelo, said, “I am appealing to the members of the public to remain calm, especially in my area, and not to take the law in to their own hands.”
Kemelo said his main worry is the fact that his ward has so many churches which may, in a way, have a contribution in the death of the child.
He even revealed that there are allegations that certain churches have prophesied that a number of children will disappear in Bontleng and that “it is very unfortunate that churches utter statements that can provoke the public”.
“The body was in a bad state and heartbreaking,” he added.
Meanwhile in Foley, a small village near Tonota, residents are also still in shock after the disappearance of a four-year-old child.
Both the public and the police, aided by a police helicopter, searched for the child in vain and the search was called off as there were no clues to his whereabouts.
To this day, the child has not been found and the Serule police station is still appealing to members of the public to assist them with information that could lead to the recovery of the child.
