The body of four-year-old Reitumetse Madibeng has been found by members of the police during an extensive search on a farm near Dewetsdorp in the Free State.
Baby Madibeng and her two cousins were heading to the farm when she told them that she was tired of walking. It is alleged that her cousins left her under a tree on the roadside on Saturday. The pair was arrested and appeared in court yesterday.
A full day of search dedicated to Reitumetse has yielded tragic results. Her remains were discovered on the road not far from where she was left by her 19 and 20-year-old cousins. The cousins only told her mother about Reitumetse’s disappearance five hours later. The family participated in the search.
Her mother, Masentle Madibeng, says she had hoped for her safe return.
Reitumetse and her cousins were last captured by cameras along the R702 close to one of the farms. This was after they were dropped off by transport they had taken from Wepener.
Madibeng’s grandmother, Lucy Matsipa, says that the two cousins forcefully took Madibeng from her without her consent and without the knowledge of Madibeng’s mother.
“They kept on telling me that they will leave with the child, and I told them that they should stop I will bring her to the mother on Monday. They forcefully took her and from then I don’t know what happened,” says Matsipa
A postmortem is still to be conducted to determine the cause of Reitumetse Madibeng’s death.
