Sentencing in Joshlin Smith case should also focus on tik abuse, says Cape Forum
Cape Forum is calling on the media and other role players to also focus on the central role of the drug tik in the events that led to the disappearance of six-year-old Joshlin Smith in February 2024, when the guilty parties in this case are sentenced tomorrow (29 May).
The organisation – which undertakes community development projects in the Western Cape, especially in rural areas – will highlight the illegal trade in tik through a demonstration at the court in Saldanha.
“Right from the start of the trial, we have heard how Joshlin’s mother, Kelly, and her co-accused are all tik users and how they also smoked the drug on the day of her disappearance,” says Heindrich Wyngaard, Executive Chairman of Cape Forum. “But this is an element that was under-emphasised in their eventual conviction for the kidnapping and human trafficking of a minor girl. The public’s reaction was also mostly directed against Kelly as a mother who would have sold her child. It was clear that the money she would have received for this would be used to support her drug addiction and not to ‘buy’ better conditions for her children.”
Cape Forum is extremely impressed by the fair, balanced and calm way Judge Nathan Erasmus handled the case.
Unlike the judge, who can only examine a case based on the evidence presented to the court, Cape Forum, as a community organisation has a duty to also look at the underlying causes of events such as the disappearance of Joshlin Smith.
This is why Cape Forum believes that this case is an opportunity to focus on the destructive effect of drug trafficking on coloured communities specifically.
Calls for a commission of inquiry into gang violence should, according to Cape Forum, be adapted to a commission of inquiry into the drug trade, as it is the root cause of gang violence.
