UPDATE: Thousands march to demand #Justice for slain Mamelodi girl
Katlego Joja’s body was found floating in the Moretele river on Sunday afternoon after she had been missing for four days.
Civil organisations, religious groups and school pupils marched to the Mamelodi West police station on Wednesday morning to demand justice for the death of 10-year-old autistic girl, Katlego Joja.
ALSO READ: Autistic child goes missing in Mamelodi
Katlego’s body was found floating in the Moretele river on Sunday afternoon after she had been missing for four days.
Katli, as she was affectionately known, was living with autism and was unable to speak.
It is alleged that the police delayed in assisting the family to search for the girl.
The family said they were turned back several times by the police and were told to wait for 24-hours before they could open a missing person’s case.
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In a memorandum, civic organisation Not in my name SA, called for the police who were responsible for turning back the family to be dismissed with immediate effect.
Founding president of the organisation Siyabulela Jentile demanded that the case be prioritised and investigations be speedily carried out with the utmost diligence and to give urgent feedback on previous similar cases.
ALSO READ: UPDATE: ‘Police should have acted sooner in missing girl death’ – family
“South African Police Services in Mamelodi must provide a detailed prevention plan to ensure that what happened to Katlego Joja never happens again in Mamelodi,” he said.
The organisation also asked that the Moretele river be patrolled day and night and that the Mamelodi police provide support to the neighborhood watch forums and assist to revive latent ones.
“This is not the first time something like this happened in Mamelodi,” he said.
Jentile urged members of the community who had any information regarding Katli’s death to come forward.
“A nation that fails to protect its children has no future,” he said.
ALSO READ: Search for autistic Mams girl still on
Gauteng provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Deliwe de Lange said internal investigations would be conducted into why the Mamelodi West police station did not act with urgency.
“Heads will roll because this matter was supposed to be given the urgency it deserves,” said De Lange.
She said a special investigative officer would be appointed to handle the case.
Photo: Stephen Selaluke
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