Cape Town – Minister of Sports, Arts, and Culture and Patriotic Alliance (PA) leader, Gayton McKenzie, has spoken out about the case of missing child Joshlin Smith, revealing he faces accusations of kidnapping and interfering with the case.
In a Facebook post, McKenzie said that the matter is now before the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
In court last week, Captain Wesley Lombard highlighted how misinformation and social media disrupted the investigation, making police efforts more difficult.
According to EWN, Lombard said that when he took over the case a week after Joshlin went missing, he found that McKenzie had involved himself in the search and used his social media platform to update the public.
He said false claims that police had abandoned the search and lacked resources created negative publicity, making it harder for authorities to gather information and leads.
However, in an interview with SABC News, McKenzie insisted he stepped in only after police allegedly closed the investigation, using his own resources to locate suspects and hand them over to the authorities.
He claimed that police relied on him for information about the suspects’ whereabouts.
“Every five hours, a child gets lost in South Africa. Most of them don’t get found. I don’t know Joshlin. I have it on black and white and everybody has it where they said they closed the investigation for Joshlin after six days. That’s when I stepped in. The investigation was closed,” McKenzie said.
[WATCH] Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture, Gayton McKenzie, says he has never interfered in the Joshlin Smith investigation. The little girl went missing last year, and her mother, Kelly Smith, is one of the accused in her disappearance. pic.twitter.com/SYiU5c2nmt
— SABC News (@SABCNews) March 28, 2025
“I stepped in and said I would pay with my own money for helicopters and sniffer dogs. All of a sudden, we’re looking for every suspect that you see in court today. We found those people, we took them to the police station.
“If they say I’m interfering, I have one question for them. When they were looking for Boeta and the mother, who did they call because they did not know where they were, they called me. My protector told them we booked them into a hotel and are guarding them so they don’t run away.”
On Sunday, McKenzie went live on Facebook and McKenzie said he became involved after being contacted by a Saldanha Bay councillor because Joshlin’s mother, Kelly Smith, was a PA member.
He described his interactions with Smith and suspicions about her behaviour.
The minister claimed to have received information that Joshlin was taken to a dam and later sold for muthi by a drug dealer named Ayanda, alleging police inaction due to fear of Ayanda.
He insisted Joshlin was still alive and accused Ayanda and the mayor of conspiring in the case.
Watch the video below:
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