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"We don't have hopes," he said, though they do not suspect any foul play. Relatives of the boy explained that he and a mentally challenged relative had accompanied his aunt to visit a nearby ward. While the aunt was chatting with her friend, the boys walked away and she presumed they had gone home. However, they never reached home that day and Raofana was never seen again. A search was conducted that evening and on the following day the mentally challenged relative was found sleeping in one of the areas where the search had been conducted. However, due to his condition, he could not say where exactly he had left his younger relative. The search for the boy was intensified with the police and soldiers joining in but without success. The Baleseng family then summoned members of the Eloyi Christian Church to assist them locate the boy. Drama unfolded as the Eloyi members went about exorcising what they claimed was traditional medicine from the homestead. After a prolonged search, the church members claimed the boy was being kept in a certain homestead. They sought permission from the police to retrieve the child from the yard. The police could not grant them authority to raid the private home and the church members blamed them for failing to cooperate. They claimed they would have located the boy if the police had given them the go-ahead. Before they left, they promised the family they would return to assist them. After a week, they returned to Molepolole and converged at the Kgotla where they held prayers. They conducted another search in the outlying areas but came out empty handed, to the disappointment of the villagers. Riots nearly erupted as people demanded that the missing child be returned. An ugly scene was averted by the heavy presence of members of the Special Support Group (SSG) who were patrolling the village and later ordered the crowds to disperse from the kgotla and the child's home. This time the Eloyi claimed they had been distracted from conducting their search by the crowds. Members of the Baleseng family are still too distraught to talk about their missing son, however, they have not given up hope that one day they will see him.
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