Kidnapping in South Africa is a common crime in the country, with over 1,100 people going missing annually and a child going missing every five hours.
Recently, United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (Unicef) has confirmed that one of its associate directors had gone missing on Table Mountain this week while on holiday in South Africa.
Last Seen On Table Mountain Charlotte Nikoi, who works for the Unicef, disappeared while hiking last week. Her spouse reported her missing after they had gone hiking up Platteklip Gorge on Tuesday. According to Western Cape police spokesperson Sergeant Noloyiso Rwexana, “she has been searched for everywhere but nowhere to be found.” Charlotte Nikoi, 50, a Ghanaian national, had arrived in the country from New York a week before for an exciting holiday which has turned sour.
It is becoming increasingly difficult for rescuers in South Africa to find the Ghanaian UNICEF Associate Director who went missing in the country. Nikoi is an associate director for human resources at Unicef’s headquarters in New York. Unicef spokesperson Najwa Mekki says Nikoi was last seen on 21 March.
“We are fully cooperating with local police. We do hope she will return savely
It is still not yet clear what has happened to Unicef associate director Charlotte Nana Yaa Nikoi, who was last seen walking on Table Mountain on Human Rights Day.” He further said.
Despite an extensive ground and aerial search, she has not been seen since March 21, and it is suspected she might have left the mountain. Also, recently, Wilderness Search and Rescue spokesperson Johan Marais said volunteers worked with Skymed aerial rescue services and scoured the mountain, but there was no sign of her. WSAR went to the spot where she and her husband took their last photographs on the mountain, but found nothing, Marais said.
The case has been filed with the police, and the search has continued, but still with no sign of Nikoi. Some policemen have been sent to the table mountain but no positive feedback from them yet. Hopes are high that she will eventually be found.
“We are 95% sure that she is not in the area we went to search for her. Which means she came off the mountain and was either taken away, or went away from that area,” Marais said.
Yaa Nikoi’s colleagues at Unicef are worried about her disappearance, and have circulated a picture of her to help in the search.
Police have asked that anybody with information on her whereabouts contact them on 021 461 8067 or 072 560 2624.
At the time of her disappearance, Nikoi wore light-blue shorts, a cream, black and brown cardigan, a sleeveless black top, brown sneakers, and oval-shaped glasses.
Just of recent, a one-month-old girl abducted in an apparent car-jacking in the South African city of Durban was found safe and well. South Africa’s Security services are working really hard on the missing case so there is hope that the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (Unicef) associate director for human resources at Unicef’s headquarters in New York, Charlotte Nikoi will also be found alive soon.
