Cape Town - Eight years after the disappearance of little Shasha-Lee November, residents of Hanover Park will gather for a night vigil to mark another year since her disappearance.
The vigil, arranged by community organisation Women2Women, in honour of Shasha-Lee and all who remain missing, will take place at 19 Groenall Walk, Hanover Park, at 6pm, in front of the family’s residence.
Shasha-Lee went missing at the age of 6 from outside her home on May 3, 2015. According to her missing person poster she was last seen playing in Groenall Walk, Hanover Park. She was the youngest of six children and a Grade 1 pupil at Belmor Primary School.
Her mother, Sandra, died of a heart attack in August 2018 and her father, Clive, of tuberculosis in March 2020.
Women2Women media liaison officer Amelda September said the first vigil started on the day of her disappearance.
“Women2Women held the vigil every year until 2019, then Covid-19 kicked in and we had to stop. In 2023, we decided to do it again because this year it will be eight years since she went missing. Up till now we have no information of what happened to Shasha.”
September said that representatives and station commanders from the Philippi and Grassy Park police stations, Western Cape Missing Persons Unit, and Belmor Primary, among other organisations, would be present to create awareness of her case and that of other missing children/people.
When contacted, eldest sister Jasmine Harris, 35, was putting up her sister’s old missing person poster and handing out flyers throughout Hanover Park, before Wednesday’s vigil.
Harris said her sister disappeared on a Sunday afternoon and the meal she had given her at lunchtime was the last time she saw her younger sister.
“She was playing outside in the road, just a few houses away from our house, with friends They (police) never phoned me with any information, no updates,” she said.
It was only after Shasha-Lee was featured in an episode of Vermis on September 30, 2021 that the police contacted Harris to say that they would be reopening the case.
“As we were doing the terminus of Hanover Park, putting up posters and handing out flyers, people were very surprised that she was still missing. They thought she had been found already. I do believe she is still alive and I do hope one day that someone will bring her home safely to us.”
Harris said her family spent a few months with the community searching for Shasha-Lee. “A lot of people came out, people that were pregnant, people who had babies in strollers, went to go and look for her in dams and we never stopped. After three or four months we were still looking for her; even today people are still looking.”
In January, police confirmed that they had reopened the cold case of missing Shevonne Matthews after a request from her mother amid rumours of Matthews living in Mitchells Plain.
Shevonne, who was 9, went missing on April 16 while playing in a park in Athlone 21 years ago.
The family of Matthew Ohlsson remain hopeful that their son is still alive. Matthew, aged 9, disappeared on March 24, 1997 from outside his home in Westridge.
His mother, Michelle Ohlsson, said: “We wrote a book and decided as a family that we don’t want to put ourselves through the emotional trauma over and over each time.
“From the family’s side we deal with the loss daily and with many what ifs each and every day. Do we think he’s alive? We only hope and trust he’s still out there.”
shakirah.thebus@inl.co.za