Where is Sipho Ncube?

Sipho was last seen wearing a light blue T shirt, a pair of black trousers, and her wedding ring. She has brown eyes, is about 1.7 meters tall, and has black shoulder-length plaited hair.

A missing person report has been filed at Maitland Police Station. Pink ladies organisation and other individuals are helping search for her.

It cannot be established if she reached the place of the interview.

Her husband, Gibson Ncube, told GroundUp that Sipho had apparently advertised in the Cape Argus that she was looking for a job. Someone in Hout Bay responded to her advert. She told her husband she had doubts about the interview and she did not trust the way the person spoke. They had agreed that she was not going for the interview.

But when he returned from work, Ncube was surprised to find Sipho and their baby were not at home.

He intended as usual to give Sipho a train ticket to go to Cape Town College where she was furthering her studies.

He thought she might have bought another ticket and went to college, so he waited at the train station till 9pm. When Sipho did not turn up, he decided to visit a friend’s place. He found that Sipho had left their 17-month-old baby with the friend at very short notice. Sipho had still been breast feeding the baby.

Sipho’s younger sister is now helping Gibson to look after the baby.

Ncube says Spho’s contract had just expired at Cape Royale Luxury Hotel and Spa, which is why she was looking for work.

He has now stopped working to search for Sipho.

He said, “The man [who responded to her job advert] lied twice about his name and he was later identified as Francois Yaris. The night Sipho disappeared, he was not answering his phone, and later switched it off. Sipho’s phone was unavailable. He told both me and the police that he did not see her.” Ncube doesn’t believe him.

“I am not happy with the way MTN and police are handling the situation. The police told me that it will take them a month to get a printout from MTN. I approached MTN two weeks ago. Then they said they will come back to me. I am still waiting for them. Waiting for them is killing me,” he said.

Eddie Moyce, Chief Customer Experience Officer at MTN, said in such cases, “The matter needs to be reported to the police. Once a case is reported, the police can immediately request via subpoena the information pertaining to the owner of the number. Unfortunately, MTN is prohibited from disclosing confidential subscriber information unless we are lawfully requested to do so. In view of the fact that the allegations are indeed serious, the police will surely take an immediate action and cannot refuse to assist the complainant in this matter.”

Captain FC Van Wyk of SAPS Western Cape Media Centre said, “The person is still missing. The police have opened an enquiry pertaining to this incident and are following every information that could be used to recover the missing person. Kindly be advise that the matter is still under investigation. All the cellphone companies (networks) has been subpoenaed for the printouts and the matter is still under investigation”.

Ncube was referred by a colleague to Pink Ladies, a group of countrywide volunteers who work to reunite missing children and loved ones with their families or caregivers.

Much of the Pink Ladies’ work is done at ground level and for this reason they request that the public and media respect their anonymity. They are partners of SAPS.

Since January to date their Facebook page has reported 74 missing children and 67 missing adults.

Anyone with information that may help is kindly requested to contact South African Police Services SAPS- Maitland, Warrant Officer Vukubi on 0027716048350 (Cell) 0027215069400 (Land) or Gibson Ncube on 0027835256409.