Five-year-old Shane Basson, who was reported missing in Kakamas in Northern Cape at the beginning of November, has been found dead.
The toddler’s body was discovered dumped in the veld near Alheit on Monday.
Captain Nelis Prins, police spokesperson in Northern Cape, said the little girl was reported missing on November 5. “Preliminary investigations indicate that the girl was allegedly murdered on November 4 during the afternoon,” said Prins.
He said a 37-year-old man is in police custody after he was arrested at his home, not far from the spot where the toddler’s body was discovered. He is expected to appear at the Kakamas magistrate’s court soon on a charge of murder.
“Police investigations are continuing and a post-mortem will be conducted to determine the cause of death,” said Prins.
In 2020, Facebook’s Amber Alerts, a missing child emergency alert which works by distributing a message through a system that enables the Facebook community to actively participate in finding missing children, was launched in South Africa.
Emily Vacher, Facebook’s director of trust and safety, said when a child goes missing, the most valuable thing one can do is share information immediately.
“By working with law enforcement in helping to share the right information with the right people, we hope that missing children will be safely reunited with their families faster,” said Vacher.
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