DURBAN – South Africans woke up to news that the missing Moti brothers, Zia, Alaan, Zayyad and Zidan were reunited with their parents, three weeks after they were kidnapped.
The family released a statement via their business Facebook page saying that the brothers were safe at home.
They have also asked for privacy, adding that they will speak to the media in due course.
“We are looking forward to healing as a family and will appreciate some privacy for a while. We will talk to the media in a few days,” the family said.
Police confirmed that the brothers were dropped off in Vuwani, more than 100 kilometres from their home in Polokwane.
Spokesperson Brigadier Vish Naidoo said the boys walked to a house where they were recognised by a child in the home and the police were called.
Naidoo said when the boys were found, they were checked by a doctor who confirmed that they were in good health.
He said the children also appeared to be in high spirits during the reunion with their parents.
“The children have not yet been interviewed but today investigators will arrange for the SAPS psychologists to assist with that,” he said.
The question on everyone’s lips is: What happens next?
Speaking to eNCA, just hours after the news broke, former SAPS forensic psychologist, Dr Gérard Labuschagne said it is up to the Moti family if the children are seen by a private psychologist or a police psychologist.
“For the first day or two, I think you just want the kids to be reunited with their parents. We have all sorts of things we want to do like get information from them etc but you cannot forget the human side and the kids are not going to want to be interviewed right now. They just want to be with their parents,” he said.
He said after about two days, police may speak to the boys to get information about what happened and that could help in the SAPS investigation.
According to Naidoo, the investigation into the case of kidnapping is continuing and SAPS is appealing to anyone who can assist with information that will help bring the kidnappers to book, to contact the police.
Information can be communicated via the SAPS Crime Stop number 086 00 10111 or via MySAPSApp. All information will be treated with strictest confidence and callers may remain anonymous.
IOL