Social worker now missing for 18 days

Social worker now missing for 18 days (Either she must have really pissed someone off, or she's sick of stealing children and ran away.)
Jan 5, 2010 10:12 PM | By JUDY LELLIOTT

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A frantic father has been searching for his missing social worker daughter for 18 days.

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Vuyelwa Phangwana, 40, disappeared on the morning of December 18, after leaving the offices of Johannesburg Child Welfare in Marshalltown, downtown Johannesburg, where she works.

"I don't know whether I am coming or going. I have been really miserable since my daughter disappeared," her 90-year-old father, Vincent Phangwana, told The Times.

"Vuyelwa left [work] with no explanation an hour after she arrived - at about 8.30am. She left her wallet and ID lying carelessly on the desk," said Child Welfare director Aileen Langley, who has been helping the family search for the mother of three.

Phangwana's sisters, Phakama, Ruth and Ellen, have taken in her three children, aged 17, 14 and two-and-a-half.

"We have been really miserable since she disappeared," said her father.

Vuyelwa's family, together with her co-workers, have been combing Johannesburg mortuaries, hospitals, police stations, jails, parks and public places for her.

No one close to her had any reason to believe she was in trouble at the time of her disappearance. Colleagues and her family do not believe that her disappearance was voluntary, as she had just landed her "dream job", after qualifying as a social worker in October, and would not leave it without cause. They also say she would never leave her children.


Ruth Mabuya, 50, a nurse at Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital, says she has "no idea" why her younger sister left.

"We have found nothing at this stage. I've been visiting hospitals once a week and I have not found anything yet," said the investigating officer, Constable PM Mashala.

Phangwana was last seen wearing brown pants and a white shirt with brown spots. She is dark-skinned and wears her hair short.

Anyone with information on her disappearance should call Mashala on 011-497-4072.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/news/article250040.ece