Grieving Mother Demands Justice Over Missing Daughter Found Dead

BABOKI KAYAWE
Staff Writer | Monday September 6, 2010 00:00

 

'My daughter died a horrid death,' Chedza's mother told The Monitor this week..

Kolobetso Jameson, the 58-year-old mother, is in mourning after her second born child, Tidimalo 'Chedza' Jameson died under mysterious circumstances.

Before disappearing Chedza had a clean bill of health, and no one thought this time around she would be counted among the dead. Yes, death is an eventuality, but the Jameson family cannot stop blaming the Botswana Police Service for their child's 'untimely' death. Kolobetso said at some point during Chedza's three-month disappearance the policeman handling the case told them that they were not the only family whose relative had gone missing and should therefore be patient.

The bereaved family and other mourners who filled the Jameson living room in Partial last Wednesday described Chedza, who was laid to rest on Tuesday morning at Broadhurst cemetery, as a cheerful woman. She had been found dead with a rope around her neck and buried in the Shashe riverbed in Tonota after she went missing for three months.

Grief-stricken, Kolobetso narrated what transpired. She said on the evening of June 25, she received a telephone call from one of Chedza's mates at a shared rental area in Tonota, asking whether she had travelled to Gaborone.

'It was on a Friday when I was told my daughter was missing, I never thought she could be dead,' she said. At first she did not think it was anything serious, only to be alarmed when she heard that her daughter was last seen on June 20 and that her cellphone was off. She then reported the matter to the Broadhurst Police Station, where police said there was nothing they could do and referred her to Tonota police.

Two family members were sent to Tonota. The distraught Kolobetsa blamed the police for her daughter's death adding that the family learnt from her manager at Sefalana in Francistown that she had not reported for duty for the whole week.

After the matter was reported, Tonota police had to use force to get into Chedza's rented house and found that household furniture and clothes were missing.

'I couldn't believe what I heard, no message, and no nothing, but she was a very open person; she could have told us if something was troubling her,' she said.

She told The Monitor team that Chedza's 'boyfriend' had denied the he and their daughter were lovers despite many people testifying to the contrary.

The other person who might have some information is a friend who admitted to the police that she had supper with her on the day of her disappearance.

She wants justice to be done, adding that police must step up their investigation because there too many cases of people being reported missing only to be found dead later.

A concerned family spokesman James Molosankwe also criticised police investigations in this case.

He revealed that nothing was done until they had reported the matter to Police Headquarters in Gaborone.

Chedza adds to many other people who went missing this year only to be found dead the next day.

The Midweek Sun newspaper recently revealed startling police statistics, which show that close to 500 people have been reported missing since the beginning of the year. The alarming numbers, which were confined only to 2009 and 2010, show an equally shocking number of people who were eventually found dead.

'According to police spokesperson, assistant commissioner Christopher Mbulawa, the combined number of people who were reported missing from January 2009 to July 14 this year stands at 1570. Of these, only a total of 682 were eventually found, with some dead and others alive,' the paper said.

It further stated that the number of those who later were found dead is 44, comprising 30 males and 14 females. The majority of those who were recovered dead are men aged over 30 years.

When contacted Tonota police would not be drawn into discussing the issue.