CT mother pleads for assistance in bringing mentally ill son home from eStwatini

Dennis TJune 24, 2019

28 3 minutes read

The distraught mother of a mentally challenged Delft man who has been found in eSwatini after disappearing six years ago has been pleading to the public to help her get her son back home.

Jane Daniels lost hope of ever seeing her son alive again but last week, eSwatini police contacted the SAPS in Delft informing them they’d found Denzil Daniels scratching in bins outside a supermarket. It was not known how he’d got to the country formerly known as Swaziland.

Denzil, who has no documents allowing him to be in that country, was able to supply authorities with his mother’s address.

Jane Daniels said she has spent the past few days knocking on the doors of people in her community, asking them to lend her money so she could fetch her son.

“My heart’s desire is to go to the border, see my son and throw my arms around him and tell him I’ve been worried about him and I’m happy that he’s alive. I’m just asking people for any donations that will make it possible for me to fetch Denzil and bring him back home safely.”

Two Delft police officers have in their personal capacity taken it upon themselves to fetch Denzil at the border between South Africa and the small kingdom. One of the officers would use his own car for the trip and has also appealed to the public for financial assistance.

Daniels said the officers were a godsend.

“These two police officers made my problem their problem. I’ve never come across two people like these policemen who have gone out of their way to help me.”

NO HELP FROM HOME AFFAIRS

Daniels said with only her marriage certificate in hand, she made her way to a Cape Town Home Affairs office last week to explain her situation and ask for help and advice, but the man who attended to her showed her the door.

“I got to Home Affairs and the man told me to take my marriage certificate and to go to Swaziland myself. The manner in which they treated me, it was like I wasn’t a South African. I was heartbroken. They just chased me away.”

The 60-year-old woman said she and her family lost everything including Denzil’s personal documents in a fire several years ago.

Daniels said she also visited a police station in Cape Town to ask for help and was again turned away.

“They told me government does not help with matters like this. The officer told me if Denzil was a criminal or if he had been kidnapped, they would have helped me. He said the only thing I could do was go to my community and collect money to fetch my son. I told him many people here are unemployed, they don’t even have food on their tables.”

‘I THOUGHT HE WAS DEAD’

Daniels had a broad smile as she sat with her hands on her lap and spoke about her son whom she thought she’d never see again.

“I always thought this child is dead. I always prayed and that’s what carried me through. My heart is happy and I say thank you to God.”

The 60-year-old woman said mystery still surrounded the day her son disappeared from their Delft home.

“That’s the big question… who knows, he could have been kidnapped. How did he get there? We just don’t know. It’s a mystery.”

Daniels, who had already held a memorial service to bid farewell to her child, said she cried every day.

She lost another son, Denzil’s older brother, who was killed in a car accident in 2002.

Her husband, who she said spoke about Denzil every day, died last year.