Missing six-year-old found dead in Mpumalanga

The lifeless body of a six-year-old girl has been found in a shallow stream five days after she went missing in Mpumalanga.

The child went missing on July 21 while attending a traditional ceremony with her grandmother in Siyabuswa.

“It is reported that she was in a room playing with other children whilst the adults were enjoying the ceremony outside‚ when she suddenly went out of the room and never returned‚” said police spokesperson Colonel Mtsholi Bhembe.

“It appears that the victim was strangled and possibly raped‚ however a post-mortem will be conducted to shed more light on the matter.”

The shallow stream where her body was discovered on Thursday was just a few metres away from the relatives’ house where she was last seen.

“The person who found her body raised the alarm and police were summoned to the scene‚” said Bhembe.

Mpumalanga provincial commissioner Lieutenant-General Mondli Zuma condemned the “senseless kidnapping and killing of people‚ especially young children”.