Umtentweni mother pleads for help to find missing daughter

What began as a quiet Sunday evening in Umtentweni turned into a mother’s worst nightmare – and a heart-breaking fight for justice that continues to this day.

For Amanda Matanda, the disappearance of her youngest daughter, Lihle Khahla (23) on Sunday, September 21, has exposed not only the pain of loss, but also the failures she believes lie within the police system meant to protect families like hers.

The widow, a mother of three children – Lunga, Linda and Lihle – recalls the moment everything changed. Lihle had been sent to a nearby shop in Umtentweni to buy a few items. She never came home.

“I thought it would be treated with urgency,” the mother said. “Instead, it felt like I had reported a missing chicken, not a missing child.”

The next morning, she reported her daughter missing at the Port Shepstone police station. She was emotional, but managed to give a full statement, expecting police to immediately begin searching. Instead, she was told to return on Friday, September 25, to meet the investigating officer – a delay that left her shocked and fearful.

Refusing to wait, she returned to the station the next day, begging officers to start a search. A warrant officer on standby recorded Lihle’s details and promised to register her as a missing person, but then suggested that the mother search nearby bushes herself, saying there were ‘hidden houses’ behind the country club where people sometimes stayed.

“I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “I was terrified but had no choice.”

With her 12-year-old granddaughter Azande and five construction workers from the Mzimkhulu River bridge site, she began searching the thick vegetation around Umtentweni and the nearby beach. There was no sign of Lihle.

Her family and co-workers encouraged her to organise a formal community search. On September 24, more than a dozen people gathered, ready to help. When residents asked about the police, the mother went back to the station to request assistance – only to be told the investigating officer was off duty and the dog unit was ‘on holiday’ because it was Heritage Day.

Eventually, the same standby officer joined the volunteers, along with Lazer 911. In pouring rain, they searched the surrounding areas, drenched but determined.

“The community and Lazer 911 were my angels that day,” she said. “We didn’t find her, but at least someone cared.”

As weeks passed, the investigation made little progress. When she finally met the investigating officer, the officer reportedly compared Lihle’s disappearance to a six-year-old case of another missing person who was never found – warning her not to expect much.

Desperate, she urged the investigating officer to apply for a Section 205 to trace Lihle’s cellphone. It took three weeks for the paperwork to reach Durban – only to be rejected because the cellphone number had been left off the form. After it was corrected and resent, the investigating officer went on leave. When she returned, she said the trace revealed nothing.

There were several reported sightings of Lihle in Louisiana and Oshabeni, but each lead ended without success.

Amanda then turned her attention to obtaining CCTV footage from the shop and restaurant, both of which said they could only release footage to police due to the POPI Act.

Despite her pleas, she says the investigating officer delayed the request for weeks.

On October 20, hope briefly resurfaced when a warrant officer informed her of an SMS tip claiming Lihle was being held hostage in Katlehong, Gauteng. Police there investigated, but only found a young man at the given address – no trace of Lihle. Dissatisfied with vague answers, the mother travelled to Katlehong herself to verify the story.

When she returned to Port Shepstone, she discovered the shop’s footage still hadn’t been collected. Her attempt to escalate the matter to the station commander ended in further disappointment.

“She asked me if everything was in order. To which I replied: If everything was in order, I wouldn’t be standing there with her,” Amanda recalled. “When I said the footage hadn’t been taken, she said: “Then it’s your own baby.”

Feeling humiliated, she took her complaint to provincial police headquarters, where officials treated her respectfully. A senior officer (Colonel) was assigned to interview her and to follow up. However, when she was later asked to sign a form stating that her statement could not be used against Saps in any legal matter, she refused, suspecting it was an attempt to silence her complaint.

Weeks later, she discovered that her daughter’s case docket was sitting idle, with no new investigating officer assigned.

“Another month gone,” she said. “Another month without help.”

Now, the mother’s plea is simple but powerful – she wants a dedicated investigator who will pursue every lead, review evidence properly and not give up.

“Time is against me,” she said. “I need an officer who wears the badge with pride, who understands that families depend on them for justice.”

She also calls for broader change – for South Africa to take the growing crisis of missing and kidnapped young girls seriously.

“ What I have come to discover is that when our girls are kidnapped, the law does not care and there is no urgency in rescuing human lives.We will not fold our arms,” she said.

“We will keep knocking until we are heard. Justice must be served for Lihle, and for every missing child.”

Police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda said that anyone who has a complaint against police officers is urged to lodge a formal complaint with the service complaints section of the inspectorate component of the Saps.

“Clients who are unsatisfied with the service they received from the police may also report to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate.”

Amanda confirmed that she lodged an official complaint on October 29.

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