Missing teen reunited with family

Afika Hoho, the Ezibeleni teenager who was reported missing in the Daily Dispatch last week, prompting a massive search by residents and police, has been found unharmed more than 40km from her home.

The 17-year-old was found in Vezinyawo township in Cacadu by police, who were acting on information, on Friday, much to her father’s relief.

While police said no foul play was suspected in her disappearance, her father, Mcebisi Hoho, insisted that his daughter had been abducted.

Police spokesperson Captain Namhla Mdleleni said Afika was both found alive and unharmed.

Hoho was happy to be reunited with his daughter.

“Afika was found alive and well, but now she is still undergoing medical examinations and other things,” he said.

“I am afraid the person who did this to my child will continue doing this to other children. “I hope the law will take its course and all those who were involved are arrested and held accountable,” he said.

Hoho said the woman who lives in the house Afika was found in had told them she had noticed the teenager wandering in the streets and taken her in.

“I suspect that she was taken by a drug dealer to Cacadu,” Hoho said.

However, Mdleleni ruled out the possibility of an abduction, saying Afika had been with friends. 

Hoho thanked the Ezibeleni community and the police for searching for Afika.

The teen disappeared in the middle of writing her year-end exams on November 8.