'All we want is closure': Daughter’s desperate plea to find missing father

“All we want is closure on what happened.”

These are the words of Nkhensani Chauke, whose father has been missing for 13 years.

When the family lost touch with Joseph Chauke, they were living in Davhana-Balanganani village, outside Vuwani in Limpopo, and he was living in Roodepoort, west of Joburg.

“We last spoke to him when he called my mom to let her know he was not feeling well, but he was going to the hospital.

“That was the last time we heard from him,” said Chauke, 30.

Her father’s phone has been off since then.

“We don’t know if he ever went to the hospital or not. We don’t even know the name of the hospital he went to. We have so many questions. At first, when we found his phone off, we thought he could be resting, but as days went on we saw something is not right.”

As he was the breadwinner, her father’s disappearance brought about a major change in their lives.

“For the first time, we found ourselves begging people for food. We had to ask for assistance from neighbours for the basic things. My mother also for the first time had to try to find odd jobs,” she said.

“Life was hard in a way that we never thought.”

Describing her father as the “best dad”, Chauke said there were milestones in her life she wishes he could have witnessed.

“I really wanted him to see me prosper. Last year when I bought a car, I imagined myself driving with him whenever we go home — and for him to see that I will fulfil the promise I made to him that I'll take care of him and mom, even if he is working.

“When I passed my matric, I wished he was here. I know he would have been very proud because he valued education.”

As a family, they have prepared themselves emotionally for any eventuality, said Chauke, who lives in Pretoria.

“If he is still alive, we would like to see him back at home. But we’ve also accepted there is a possibility he is not alive. If he’s not alive, we would like to see where he is buried. That’s all we want.”

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