When skeletal remains believed to be those of her missing daughter were found in 2020, Willowvale mother Andiswa Madakana-Spell, 41, prayed that she would finally get closure. And when the remains were taken away by police for DNA testing, she was hopeful the process would be smooth and quick. But at the start of 2026, almost six years later, she is still unable to give her daughter a proper burial as the remains have not been returned by the police.
Her 14-year-old daughter,Sisipho, went missing at home in Songwevu village in Willowvale at the height of the Covid 19 hard lockdown. This week, a distraught Madakana-Spell lashed out at the police for denying her and her family a chance to give Sisipho a proper send-off. “It’s been more than five years of agonising waiting,” she said.
“I am way beyond broken now. No parent who has lost a child would be happy with not knowing where the remains of their child are.” Recounting her family’s ordeal, Madakana-Spell said Sisipho had gone to play with friends in the village where she attended school. They later learnt she had been approached by a young boy known to her, who stayed in a neighbouring village.
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When she failed to return home on April 9, her anxious family immediately reported her as missing at the Willowvale police station. “They came more than three days later and took some of her photos. They also spoke to some of her friends before leaving,” Madakana-Spell said.
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