“Mostly it is men who disappear and we find them at the hospital or their bodies at the mortuary. Or we don’t find them.”
That is the sad reality of the Cape Flats for Candice van der Rheede, founder of the NGO Western Cape Missing Persons Unit (WCMPU), based in the community.
She told the Sunday Times men often flee from their homes when they are in trouble — often in the form of “kangaroo courts” seeking to punish those accused of crimes in the community.
Western Cape police media liaison officer Capt FC van Wyk said men were often reported missing on payday, or after police had detained them on suspicion of criminal activity.
Other reasons people left home included “arguments and substance abuse”.
“Some people become antisocial and choose to live a secluded life somewhere else and these people are normally more difficult to trace as they do not want to be discovered.”
Van der Rheede, herself a survivor of gender-based violence (GBV), said more girls than adult women were reported missing in Delft, where she lives. The women were usually fleeing domestic violence.
“I am a familiar face and people are often more comfortable talking to me than to police officers,” she said of the work that her organisation does.
“We work in almost every township. If somebody goes missing, for example in Manenberg, then we ask our members there to investigate.
“Missing persons isn’t just about posting a flyer and waiting for information. It is about investigating and being there for the families who experience immense trauma worrying about their loved ones. WCMPU is part of the healing process,” she said.
The previous day Van der Rheede had attended to three missing persons reports, one of them a boy aged 10 who was returned home safely.
Working together with retired law enforcement officer Vanessa Arendse, Van der Rheede has stitched together a network of more than 70 members across the Cape Flats.
Some people become antisocial and choose to live a secluded life somewhere else and these people are normally more difficult to trace as they do not want to be discovered
— Capt FC van Wyk
She has completed courses in crime scene management, victim empowerment and the Criminal Procedures Act. All WCMPU members must sign nondisclosure agreements and be cleared to work with children.
The trend of sharing missing children’s images and revealing such details as their addresses on social media without parental permission is a concern for the WCMPU. Before it releases a flyer with a photo, it asks permission and every flyer lists the name and details of the investigating officer.
Van der Rheede said: “We want to assist SAPS, particularly in the cases of miscommunication around missing persons, so they have the time to investigate cases like rape and murder.”
“Miscommunication” — or a family quarrel — is the best-case scenario. Sometimes one party to the argument storms out of the house and is reported missing, but quickly returns home of their own accord.
However Van der Rheede and Arendse have had to cope with far worse, such as the murder of Chanelle McCrawl, 10, in Manenberg. “Finding Chanelle with a curtain over her head, and one sock and shoe, was my first time. I went into a depression for two months.”
Support from her husband, her church and Arendse gave her the strength to continue her mission.
Van der Rheede said more than half the women who leave home cite domestic violence and sexual abuse as the reason. “In most cases women take their children with them, though sometimes they leave their kids with friends, family or neighbours.”
Arendse said untreated depression and stress can also trigger mothers to walk out. “I found a lot of these missing women sleeping on the streets,” she said of her time working in the Cape Town CBD.
Van der Rheede, a mother of four, is planning a new career in family law after she got matric last year at the age of 49 (and was persuaded to attend the matric dance).
“A lot of people expected I would do social work after I got my matric. But social work is a short-term solution to a long-term problem. I want to bring criminals to justice,” she said.
She grew up in a home where her “dad was beating my mother and I would hear her screaming and I thought it was normal”. Her mother became an alcoholic and Van der Rheede also started drinking, and taking drugs.
“Only when I started doing community work and training in this field, I realised that what I had experienced growing up (including rape by a cousin) was abuse,” Van der Rheede said.
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