Missing ouma found in Khayelitsha

A WEEK-LONG search for a missing ouma from Grassy Park resulted in tearful reunion after she was spotted at Khayelitsha District Hospital. 

The overjoyed daughter of Margaret Jaftha, 65, says they were shocked to learn she had walked all the way to Khayelitsha where kind police officers assisted her. 

Daughter Cheslene Dilgee, 41, explained her mother suffers from Alzheimer's and was last seen last Wednesday near her home in Plantation Road.

She said at the time of her ma's disappearance: "My mom lives with my brothers in Plantation Road and was last seen on Wednesday morning around 9am.

"We suspect that she may have tried to walk to my house but then got lost. She was wearing a pink nighty and a purple gown.

"This is not the first time she has gone missing. The first time she went missing we found her immediately and took her for medical check up and the doctors said she had Alzheimers.

"She was put on medication but we were waiting for a follow-up appointment at Groote Schuur Hospital for a further diagnosis."

Dilgee said this week they were shocked to hear from a neighbour that he had spotted the missing ouma at a hospital in Khayelitsha. 

She says: "We have no idea how she walked all the way to Khayelitsha and we are very grateful that the hand of God was over her.

"The neighbour called to say he was doing pest control at the hospital and spotted my mom in a ward and we immediately went to the hospital and there she was smiling happily."

Dilgee said doctors and nurses were overjoyed when they arrived. 

She adds: "It turns out that none of them even saw her missing persons poster. They explained to us that my mom was wandering around Khayelitsha and the community alerted the police who tried to help her. As she couldn't speak to say who she was they took her to the hospital.

"She was well cared for by the hospital. I tried to ask her how she got there, but she couldn't answer."

Dilgee says the family will now seek an approach care facility for her mom.