It has been almost three weeks, and the police’s silence on the Mia Botha (4) investigation is deafening. In fact, the status of arrests made in the case remains unclear.
“We are afraid that Mia’s case will follow the same route of little Chantelle Makwena, where absolutely nothing happened for years,” said Kaylynn Palm, Action Centre coordinator at Action Society. “We respect the police not being able to make public all the details about the investigation, but they should at least keep the community updated about what they are indeed doing to find Mia’s killer.”
Little Mia’s family reported her missing on Sunday, 25 September, and her body was found among bushes in a field at a school in Paarl East the next day. She was laid to rest in Paarl East on Friday, 7 October.
Action Society received a mandate from the Botha family to support and act as a watching brief to oversee the prosecution on behalf of the family.
Shortly after Mia was found, the police arrested two suspects, but they never appeared in court. Action Society learned that the police have since released the two suspected men. No further arrests were made in the matter.
“It seems like the only thing the SAPS did thus far was to send police to control the community after getting angry about another senseless murder of a child,” said Palm. “We demand answers on how the investigation is progressing and insist that this case receives the highest priority in finding Mia’s killers.”
