Missing Children South Africa says 53% of the adults that were reported missing in South Africa between 1 December 2015 and 31 August this year, have been found.
The figure is even higher in missing children cases, with a 78 percent success rate. The statistics, which were released by Missing Children SA, only represent cases which were dealt with by the organisation and not those reported to the police.
Spokesperson Bianca van Aswegen says in total 299 adults and 142 children were reported missing. Van Aswegen says the most cases of missing people were reported in Gauteng, with a total number of 209 cases.
The Western Cape was second on the list, with 134 cases. She says only five cases were reported in the Free State province, which included two children.
Van Aswegen further points out that only four percent of the children who had disappeared were found dead. She says in 60% of children who had disappeared, the reason was not known, while in 36.5% of these cases children had decided to run away.
“The biggest percentage of children that go missing are aged between 13 and 17. We get a lot of run-away children in that category, but there are different reasons why these children go missing. You can’t say for certain that they are all children who have run away,” says Van Aswegen.
The most cases were reported in January, with a total of 52 according to the report.
-Mark Steenbok
