Hennie Botes, father of the teenager who went missing over the weekend, has pledged to stop Barberton’s drug dealers in their tracks. He wants them out of town. Dwayne Botes, who turned 17 on Monday, went missing on Saturday and was found in the donga behind the Jock of the Bushveld Centre on Monday at 12:00.
According to Hennie, he last saw his son on Friday at 19:00 before he left to spend the night at his mother’s. Hennie said as far as they could ascertain, Dwayne had been dropped off at his workplace on Saturday morning. His older brother saw him in Shoprite in the company of a girl later that morning. That was the last time he was seen.
His cellphone was also switched off. After searching high and low and asking all of Dwayne’s friends and acquaintances as to his whereabouts, Hennie reported the case to the SAPS on Monday morning. At approximately 12:00 he received a phone call that his son was at work. The same girl from Saturday had taken him there after she had apparently found him in the donga behind the centre. Barberton Times spoke to Hennie who was en route to Barberton General Hospital with Dwayne.
“His hands and feet are as cold as ice and he is only wearing shorts, a T-shirt and tekkies. He doesn’t remember anything. He looks awful!” the father said in tears. At the time of his disappearance, Dwayne was wearing a jacket and presumably his overall pants. At 15:00 he was on a glucose drip and was still suffering from amnesia. “He doesn’t even recognise me or his brother,” said Hennie.
The father has reason to believe that a dealer in town sold drugs to his son. “We have many questions and a lot of things don’t add up at this stage, but one thing is certain – the drug dealers have to be stopped. “They are killing our children. I urge the community to join me in this quest to eradicate dealers from Barberton. Everybody knows about this problem among our children, but no one seems to do anything.
My son could have died and I will not rest until the last bastard has left Barberton!” At 15:30 the newspaper spoke to Hennie again. His son’s condition had improved and when he wished him a happy birthday, Dwayne said, “Thank you, Dad”. “I am grateful that his life was spared. I will make it my mission to drive these dealers out of the town!”
