Gayton McKenzie
Image: SUPPLIED
No matter how many millions it costs, Joshlin Smith’s brother and sister must go to Disneyland in Hong Kong within two weeks, Gayton McKenzie said at the launch of the Joshlin Smith Foundation in Saldanha Bay on Sunday.
The PA leader said the foundation must ensure that the two children are supported and cared for following the trauma surrounding their six-year-old sister’s disappearance.
He said their school fees, upkeep, and other needs must also be paid.
Joshlin disappeared from the Middelpos informal settlement in Saldanha Bay in February 2024 and remains missing despite a large-scale search.
Her mother, Kelly Smith, and her co-accused Jacquen “Boeta” Appollis and Steveno “Steffie” van Rhyn were sentenced on May 29 last year to life imprisonment for human trafficking and 10 years for kidnapping.
The sentences are being served concurrently, and the three have also been placed on the national child protection register.
Speaking at the event at the Dial Rock Community Hall, McKenzie said: “I want to ask the CEO of the foundation, which I will introduce now, that I want Joshlin’s sister and Joshlin’s brother's school fees and their upkeep and support to be paid by this foundation.
“These children are going through a lot.
“I want these kids, the next school holiday, the two of them, with the people who are looking after them, to be taken overseas to Disneyland in Hong Kong.
“I want you to go with them.
"I want you to leave your kids ... I want you to take them to get their passports."
McKenzie added: "I want you to make sure that these two kids, because of the trauma they have gone through, must go to Disneyland in Hong Kong.
"I do not care how many millions it costs me,
“I want them to go within two weeks from now. I want the school fees to be paid. I want clothes for them to be bought.
“I want these children to never want for anything.
"No child must suffer the way these two children are suffering.”
He also said she was still alive.
“I’m going to tell the truth... where is Joshlin? I believe Joshlin is still alive,” McKenzie said, adding that Lourentia “Rens” Lombaard told him she knows exactly what happened on the day Joshlin vanished.
He said he was going to furnish acting police minister Firoz Cachalia with this information in the coming week.
McKenzie first announced plans to start a foundation in Joshlin’s name shortly after her disappearance gripped the country.
However, the process of formally registering the organisation took time, with the foundation only officially launched in Saldanha Bay on Sunday.
McKenzie said the foundation would focus on keeping Joshlin’s name alive, supporting causes linked to missing children and assisting those affected by similar tragedies.
IOL