The leader of the Patriotic Alliance (PA) Gayton Mckenzie took to social media and announced he would be putting up a R1 million reward for the safe return of missing six-year-old Saldanha Bay girl, Joshlin Smith.
On Tuesday evening, on a livestream broadcast on his Facebook page, Mckenzie gave an update on the Joshlin case.
“This child has become the conscience of our nation. This is a rainbow child. I am taking R1 million of my own money that I could have put into my political campaign,” Mckenzie said.
“I will have a million rand less [for] posters, I will have a million rand less [for] t-shirts, I will have a million rand less of diesel for my campaign but for me, what is bigger than politics is finding that green-eyed girl,” he said.
“I am putting R1 million for anybody, no questions asked, just tell us where Joshlin is.”
He said it was known that Joshlin has not been buried in Saldanha Bay as the area has been scoured and searches are continuing for the child.
“We have people looking every day off camera. We have drones in the air. I will never give up. I am running for president of this country. I am supposed to campaign. How do I campaign if we have not found Joshlin?” he asked.
Joshlin has been missing since February 19.
Mckenzie stated he and his teams gave police the suspects currently incarcerated seven days prior to their arrests but at the time nothing was done.
“You [police] have no idea where Joshlin is because you don’t want the community’s help,” he said.
Currently, Joslin’s mother, Kelly Smith, her boyfriend, Jacquen ‘Boeta’ Appolis, Stevano van Rhyn, and Lourentia Lombaard have been charged with trafficking in persons for the purpose of exploitation and kidnapping.
The group have all abandoned their bail and are remanded in custody until their next court appearance on May 13.
Mckenzie also called out the police for not updating residents on the progress of the case and seeking public assistance.
“Ask us to look out for this car or whatever. We live in an age of cameras. Why don’t you trust the community? We got our information from the community,” he said.
“We have been running this investigation. We took step back. Kelly and Boeta wanted to run the Sunday. We kept them for you [police]. You came to us. Police are now looking for Owen. I told you a week ago re-question Owen.”
Owen is the man who told Mckenzie previously that an official from the South African Navy, who is also a sangoma, was looking for a child of mlungu (white child).
Mckenzie also claimed he got information from a current inmate who claimed he had a child with Kelly, when he asked about the child he was told the child had died.
“With the political power and clout that I have, I will never let you forget about Joshlin. This file will not be closed,” Mckenzie directed to police.