By Anita Dangazele
Three years ago, in December 2021, Lindokuhle Debruin, a young man from Gqeberha, went missing from an initiation school in Greenbushes on the outskirts of the city.
Despite his failure to return, his mother, Vuyokazi Debruin, still hopes he will one day come home.
Lindokuhle was 21 when he disappeared, just two days before his homecoming celebration on 19 December.
“My brother and uncle went to check on him at the initiation school and were told that Kuhle had disappeared the night before. He went to relieve himself around 8pm but never came back,” Debruin said.
The family and police searched everywhere, but no sign of Lindokuhle was found.
“He just vanished; nobody knows where he is, if he is alive, or if he is okay. We just don’t know,” Debruin said.
“I remember on the day that was supposed to be his homecoming, people came with gifts and started singing celebration songs at the gate. We had to tell them there would be no celebration.”
Debruin kept the new clothes she bought to give him on his return from initiation.
“I’ve kept his clothes because I believe in my heart that he is still alive. I believe that one day, he will come back home. I keep looking for him, posting his pictures on Facebook groups, hoping someone might recognise him,” she said.
Gqeberha police spokesperson Captain Sandra Janse van Rensburg said the investigation into Lindokuhle’s disappearance is ongoing.
“The investigating officer took a DNA sample from the mother to help identify him if remains are found,” she said.
Pictured above: Lindokuhle Debruin, who disappeared from an initiation school in Greenbushes, Gqeberha, in 2021.
Source: Supplied
