‘I had begun to lose hope’ Mother recounts agony after baby Asanda’s abduction

Sikhumbuzo Moyo, [email protected]

THE mother of Asanda Ndhlovu, the two- year-old toddler whose name swept through Bulawayo and beyond after her abduction at Meikles Mall on Tuesday, spoke yesterday with a mixture of disbelief, exhaustion and overwhelming gratitude. Even as she recounted the ordeal, there lingered a sense that the past two days had unfolded like a nightmare she had only just begun to wake from. She said she could not believe it when she was told that her daughter had been found alive.

She revealed that the suspect, a 14-year-old girl, had mingled with vendors and posed as a trader before fleeing with her daughter. For Nesisa Mpofu, the memory of that moment remains sharp and disorienting. An elated yet visibly shaken mother, she spoke of the distress that gripped her as hours stretched into days, and of the indescribable relief that washed over her when her little girl was found unharmed on Thursday.

She said that on the day the child disappeared, the suspect had approached her casually, under the pretext of making informal business enquiries, before seizing a moment of vulnerability to take the toddler. She dismissed claims circulating on social media that the abductor was male, stressing that the CCTV footage she viewed left no doubt.

“As the suspect was coming down, her clothing clearly indicated that she was female. I couldn’t believe it when they told me my child had been found. I thought perhaps they had made a mistake. I was overjoyed to see that it was truly her because I had begun to lose hope after two days without my daughter,” Mpofu said as she battled to withhold tears.

“I want to thank the police for finding my child. I also want to thank the people of Zimbabwe for your prayers and assistance. My daughter was found in good health, and there is nothing wrong with her.”

As the mother spoke to the media, little Asanda played nearby, blissfully unaware of the scale of the story surrounding her disappearance — a national and even global wave of concern from strangers who anxiously followed every update.

Her father, Mayibongwe Ndhlovu, described the last 48 hours as a torment no parent should ever endure. He said the news of his daughter’s disappearance initially felt so far fetched that he believed it must have been some kind of prank.

“It’s not an experience that any parent must have. It was so difficult to comprehend. When I was told that Asanda was nowhere to be seen, I thought it was just a prank because I failed to understand how such a scenario can happen.

“I sent my wife a WhatsApp message asking her what exactly was happening but she didn’t respond. After a while, she phoned and told me to come to her workplace. Upon getting there, that is when I confirmed indeed that my child had gone missing,” said Ndhlovu.

Like his wife, he said it took time to accept the news that their daughter had been found alive, news that came after police received a tip-off from a vigilant member of the public on Thursday morning.

The whistle-blower, who requested anonymity, said suspicion crept in when he noticed inconsistencies in the teen’s explanation about the child’s identity and behaviour. He said she had knocked on his office door, and when he opened it he noticed she had a young girl beside her before she asked to leave the toddler in his care.

“Look, I didn’t know the girl yet here she was, entrusting the child’s custody to me. I looked at the child and some resemblance struck, she looked similar to photos circulating in newspapers and social media,” said the whistle-blower.

He said he called a female neighbour to observe the situation and, as they were still discussing it, the suspect asked to use the toilet.

“With my suspicions, I could not take any chances. So, I asked my neighbour to accompany her and make sure she returned. Upon their return I grabbed my keys, locked the office and went out,” he said.

Unable to get through to the child’s parents on the phone, he went to the Meikles Mall scene, where two Fawcett Security CCTV technicians allowed him to re-watch the footage. After confirming the child’s identity, the police were alerted. The 14-year-old suspect later told officers that after abducting the toddler, she took her to her 36-year-old boyfriend’s residence in Sauerstown suburb.