Imagine going through an entire day not knowing what happened to your only child. This is the nightmare that Letty Mpofu is living through.
The day began like any other day but ended in unimaginable horror. Her child, Shanice, disappeared without a trace. Letty shares her heart-wrenching story with The Weight She Carries.
“In November of 2022, l decided to relocate my daughter from Zimbabwe to South Africa where l was working. She had been living with my mother from the time she was 18 months old until the age of 13.
l asked a friend to stay with her while l looked for our own place, and thankfully, she agreed.
After about three weeks, l found a job working the afternoon shift at a restaurant and made plans to move to our own space with my daughter at the end of December.
Everything was going well until the 23rd of December. l woke up in the morning and was told by my friend that the landlord had complained about my daughter breaking their garage lock. l scolded my daughter for it and sent her to open the gate for my friend who was going to work, which was what she normally did each morning.
I went back to sleep and got up around 10 a.m. to get ready for work and send my daughter to the shops to buy bread.
What struck me as odd was that her bed was unmade, which was unlike her. l checked around the yard and even knocked on the landlord’s door to ask if they had seen her. She was nowhere to be found.
As l prepared to go to work, l thought she was probably throwing a tantrum and hiding somewhere. She would probably come back after l had left.
When l came back home, l found that she was still not back. That’s when l started to panic because it was unlike her to disappear for such a long time. The following day, l filed a missing person’s report with the police.
We tried to find some answers from the CCTV footage, but it showed nothing.
I went back home to Zimbabwe after seeing that the police in South Africa were dragging their feet and actually blamed me for her disappearance. l contacted a lot of media houses, thinking that maybe someone could identify her so that l could bring her home.
To this day, l do not know where my 13-year-old daughter Shanice Rutsvara is or whether she is dead or alive. At this point, l am desperate and willing to do anything to find her and ensure her safety.
What makes matters worse is that my family thinks l used her for rituals to make myself rich.
l am heartbroken and torn, but l continue to search for her with the hopes that there will be closure on my part as she is the only child l have.”
As it stands, there have not been any leads as to what could have happened to Shanice. Her mother is appealing to anyone who knows of any organization or private investigator that can help her find closure.
