Rakops Missing Chief Was Abducted - Family
Pini Bothoko | Monday September 23, 2019 12:36
The family is adamant he was abducted and is increasingly frustrated over the possibility that the police are not using all the resources at their disposal to search for him.
Segaise, 96, was reported missing in August 15 and to date his whereabouts and that of his car, a silver-grey Honda CRV are still a mystery.
The family’s representative and Segaise’s grandson, Dr Samuel Letang told The Monitor that the family is frustrated and exhausted, having not slept a great deal ever since the chief went missing.
He said the old man’s disappearance has brought fear amongst them, as the family does not know what tomorrow holds concerning whether the missing person would be traced. “Everyone is frustrated, how can a 96-year-old disappear.
We are living in fear of not knowing what to tell our children who question us about their grandfather’s whereabouts daily. There is no life; you can imagine the trauma that the family is going through,” he said. “We need closure of the matter especially that the man who is missing is the anchor of our family.
We are concerned about his health because he is on high blood pressure medication which he left behind.” Letang also said they believe their father has been abducted hence they are pleading with those responsible for the act to have mercy and bring him back.
Furthermore, Letang said they appealed for the President Mokgweetsi Masisi’s intervention into the matter as he usually stands with families that experience pain and loss. “We need the President’s voice. We also need the Vice President, Slumber Tsogwane to be equally concerned more on the search progress than Btv staged family visits. Such visits do not yield much to the main activity on the ground.
We also need our father’s co-workers and the Local Government office to be proactive and not dragged into the search through pleas of the family,” said Letang.
On another note Letang said in the past their father laboured intensely when other people went missing and expressed frustration that he is not given the attention he deserves. “We expect much from them as community leaders, especially our village Dikgosi should be actively involved in engaging the community through traditional fora like pitso which have been very difficult to host since the disappearance of our father.
Is our village leadership not aware of how to engage the community on matters such as this or it is a form of reluctance? Their lack of commitment to address the matter worries us,” Letang said.
Letang further stated that every family going through trauma of this kind will show obvious signs of disappointments within ‘but that’s not’ their focus, as they look to trace their father. He however applauded the police for their relentless interaction with the family.
Letang however stated that they need the search to be sustained through availability of cars to the family and a helicopter to speed up matters coupled with quality investigations appropriate for the missing person. “With their training and expertise we believe they are capable to deliver even better than now.
We are grateful for the help we are receiving from members of the public and we need the coverage to continue on Btv,” said Letang.
Acting Kgosi, Diane Jacob said they have tried their best as the village leadership to search for the missing village chief to no avail.
“The day the chief was reported missing I called a Kgotla meeting to address and plead with members of the community to join hands in the search. It’s been more than a month since the chief went missing and we have tried our best.
Re dirile fare dirileng teng, villagers have went everywhere searching for him even at the cattle posts, farms to mention but a few to no avail,” explained Jacob. However, Jacob said they have since left the matter to the police who are still busy with the search.
Commenting on the matter, Rakops Police Station Commander, Superintendent Thito Freeman said the case is still regarded as that of a missing person but ‘not abduction’. He said the Botswana Police Service’s intelligence is on the ground doing the search and also busy with investigations into the matter.
“We are investigating a case of a missing person, we are aware of the family’s frustration especially that the person missing is an elder, but there are no reports of abduction,” Freeman said.
“We have been on the ground ever since the chief’s disappearance, but there are no leads yet. We are pleading with villagers to help us locate their chief.”