On Human Rights Day back in March, Ghanaian Charlotte Nikoi, along with her husband and daughter, went hiking on Table Mountain.

What happened next remains shrouded in mystery, because in the almost two months since her disappearance we are no closer to finding out what happened.

First let’s get the basics via News24:

The three decided to go for the walk on Table Mountain on the public holiday. However, less than an hour into the walk, Nikoi said she was turning back. They had planned to meet again at the start of the trail, but she was not there.

Wilderness Search and Rescue has gone over the mountain several times in the hopes of finding a clue.

Husband Chris has been trying tirelessly to find her ever since, checking hospitals and travelling from Cape Town to Jozi in an effort to follow any leads, but thus far his efforts have been fruitless.

According to EWN, his latest hope is a group of Canadian hikers he remembers being on the mountain that day:

Chris Nikoi says he interacted with a group of hikers on Platteklip Gorge shortly before he went hiking in March…

Nikoi says he hopes the Canadian hikers can help.

“I’m trying to recall whether the Canadian hikers were also going down, but I have a vague recollection. As I saw my wife headed back down, I thought I saw the group of hikers either behind her or in front of her.”

“I’m pleading with everybody in South Africa who would be able to help us find her, restore our family and get over this painful agony.”

If you’re asking where the police are in all of this you’re not alone. I’m sure Fikile Mbalula is tweeting out a meme as we speak, but jokes aside it’s another reminder of their incompetence.

In an interview with BizNews, South African forensic investigator Paul O’Sullivan [below] isn’t pulling any punches:

This woman is a Director in the World Food Program of the United Nations…They hiked up some or other trail and halfway up the trail she ran out of breath and she said she’ll meet them back at the road. She went back down to the road and she’s never been seen since.

Now we have been commissioned to carry out an investigation. We’ve carried out an investigation and our investigation has ground to a halt because here we are, almost 60 days after her disappearance, despite the police having the information to carry out the necessary searches on their cell phones, and we’ve given them the cell phone numbers – they have not done that job.

…they’re incompetent. You see, you’ve got good police out there on the ground and you’ve got other police that are lazy. This case was taken on by lazy cops and when a complaint was filed against these lazy cops, they were able to con their way out of the complaint. We’ve been putting pressure on them. They haven’t even filed the Section 205 Applications with the cellular phone companies yet, and our investigation has ground to a halt. We’re now treating it as a case of kidnapping and murder. The world doesn’t know about it yet.

…The whole thing has been hushed up. Well, we’re going public with it next week. We’re going next week, we’re going to say that this woman that went missing on Table Mountain is now believed to have been kidnapped and possibly murdered. There’s been no ransom demand, there’s been no trail to follow and the reason there’s no trail to follow is because the police are too lazy to go and file the documents with Vodacom.

Chris remains hopeful that our law enforcement will make progress, saying that he expects “police to spare no effort and will put in the necessary resources to find her quickly”, but I guess only time will tell.

O’Sullivan, of course, isn’t so sure about the SAPS and their ability:

You know what’s happened to the Police Service? It’s become a place to bury loyal Zuma activists and what’s happened is people that have lost their positions elsewhere, but they’re loyal to Zuma, they’re given ranks of General in the Police, and they get a salary of the General in the Police and they have no police experience whatsoever.

…You’ve got police at lower ranks who should be getting those positions, who look up and see that they now have a boss that doesn’t even know anything about the job and they think to hell with it, I’m going to become a Post Office worker, I don’t have to put my back into the job…

Ninety percent of the Police and 90% of the Prosecutors, and 90% of the Hawks are good guys. The rot is 10% but the problem is the rot is at senior management so we need to get rid of that lot. As soon as they’ve gone you’ll see massive changes and improvements in the Criminal Justice System.

Yet another reason to get rid of JZ – as if we were running low.

Meanwhile Chris Nikoi carries on his search, one that seems no closer to solving.

[sources:news24&ewn&biznews]