Siphelele Nketo
THE family of the Grade 2 learner from Xolo Xolo Primary School in Kokstad, Lathitha Mtolo (7), has questioned the accuracy of police findings that confirmed the human skull found in March as Lathitha’s remains.
Lathitha went missing on February 26 after she left home to play with other children in the informal settlement of Marikana.
She never returned home.
Police findings about the skull were rejected by the family, and they announced that they would seek other alternatives such as private DNA testing, for their satisfaction.
The skull and clothes were found in March in a bushy area near Shayamoya by a passerby. Clothes were found hanging in a tree, while the skull was on the ground.
Tests were conducted, according to police, and results found that the clothes matched Lathitha’s.
Police spokesperson Mosa Hlaki also said that DNA samples were obtained from Lathitha’s mother, Nandipha, and results came positive.
She said the family was informed about these developments, and the case was reclassified from missing to murder.
However, the police findings about the skull did not bring peace or closure to the family, but instead, they sparked more questions. Lathitha’s mother, Nandipha, said the findings were not convincing.
“Lathitha’s uncle had enough of a chance to look at the skull and he doubted it could be that of Lathitha. I concur with him,” she said. While refusing to accept the police report, she also refused to take the skull and bury it, saying she wanted an independent DNA test.
“What is concerning was the manner in which the results were brought to the family. Police came with social workers with no document that supports their statements. It was just a word of mouth announcement,” she said, adding that she was able to see the results from a computer after she went to the local police station to verify what was said to her by the police.
Lathitha’s grandmother, Nomonde Mtolo, called for thorough investigations and said that the family has been in deep pain since Lathitha was reported missing.
On June 23, the Lathitha family was visited by the Greater Kokstad Municipality Women’s Caucus Commission in a show of support and to hand over a donation of cookware sets, groceries, blankets, a mini-stove and microwave.
