742 children have disappeared without a trace since 2023, say police

Rilise Munyai left his house in Tshilaphala village in Venda, Limpopo, on May 23 2023 with his grandfather who was going to collect his cows that had been grazing at a nearby river. That was the last the seven-year-old boy was seen.

Rilise is one of 742 children who disappeared without a trace since 2023 and whose families are still pinning their hopes on the police for their safe return.

Almost 2,000 children were reported missing in the past three years.

Of those, 1,252 were found and 742 are still missing, police have revealed. This means on average of about 250 children who go missing each year are never found.

National police spokesperson Brig Athlenda Mathe said:

• 740 children were reported missing in the 2022/2023 financial year, but only 474 were found.
• For 2023/2024, 697 children were reported missing and 472 were found and returned home.
• In the 2024/2025, 507 were reported missing by December 17 and 306 were reunited with their families.

Since December, social media has been flooded with images of missing children and frantic calls from their loved ones asking for help for their safe return.

According to Bianca van Aswegen, national co-ordinator at Missing Children SA, an increasing number of cases are being reported to the organisation.

She said there were many reasons children go missing and increasing crime was a contributor.

“Also, parents who are not capable of looking after children due to financial needs as well as increasing kidnappings and human trafficking,” Van Aswegen said.

“We also have children we classify as runaways, mostly attributed to children being abused at home and run away due to the circumstances. We have children who wander off and get lost and also our mentally challenged, autistic children that also tend to get lost.”

Van Aswegen said police figures only give a general indication of the problem because many cases go unreported. Some of the reasons for this include people being afraid of going to the police for help due to their mistrust of the system.

“Other children are victims of human trafficking where people sell off their own children and those children never get reported as missing.”

According to a police officer who asked to remain anonymous, in some instances fights over custody also lead to kidnapping of children.

Van Aswegen said families of missing children were forced to live with the trauma of not knowing where their loved ones were.

“It's a difficult time for families when they have a child missing. It is traumatic for them not knowing where their child is and if their child is still alive.”

Social development spokesperson Bathembu Futshane said missing children were of “great concern. It is something we are monitoring closely with our stakeholders, including SAPS, to see what interventions we need to implement within our basket of child protection services.”

Futshane said the department constantly embarked on child protection campaigns with the hope of ending the problem of children who just go missing.

“As part of child protection campaign, educating and raising awareness, parents and caregivers are sensitised to ensure their children are safe, they know where they are and always supervised. In addition, as part of online and offline safety, children are also sensitised about stranger danger and not meeting strangers online and offline,” Futshane said.

While some parents get a happy ending after their children are found unharmed and reunited with them, others aren't that lucky.

“We have cases where children are found deceased due to a crime committed against them such as murder or circumstances where children have been found deceased due to environmental factors when a child may have got lost,” said Van Aswegen.

There was no waiting period for reporting a missing child or adult.

“Report immediately to your nearest police station and to us at Missing Children SA so action can be taken,” she said.

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