Tensions are high after search for missing Joshlin Smith is suspended

CAPE TOWN - Tensions are running high in the Saldanha Bay community, where the search for missing child Joshlin Smith has been put on hold.

Joshlin has been missing for eight days after disappearing from a shack where she had been in the care of her mother’s boyfriend.

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Earlier members of the Middelpos community expressed anger after the search for Joshlin was put on hold.

This follows rising tensions about the whereabouts of Joshlin and false information being spread about the circumstances surrounding her disappearance.

Saldanha Bay councillor Theresa Le Roux-Rossouw said "when you make a false accusation or you spread a false rumour, the SAPS investigates every single clue. So, they are going to going to go out and investigate every one of those rumours.”

As a result, Joshlin’s mother and her boyfriend have now been taken to a place of safety.