State Media

A BOY, last seen kicking a football up a street on October 3, has not been seen since then.

The disappearance of 16-year-old Prince Sibanda, a Form Three pupil at Bulawayo’s Milton High School, has left his parents, Ms Sinothando Ncube and Mr Trevor Sibanda worried.

What was bizarre about his disappearance was that Prince ran ahead of his mother, up a sloppy road and then disappeared going down. When his mother got to the top, there was no sign of him.

“My son and I were coming from church (12 Apostles Church) on October 3 accompanied by his siblings. There is a road that leads to our house that passes by Parrot Lodge in Matsheumhlophe suburb (along Valeview Road) and it has a steep slope. So, we were going up the slope and he ran forward kicking his plastic ball. He went over the hill and when we got there about a minute later, we couldn’t see him,” said a solemn looking Ms Ncube.

While she spoke, her husband, Mr Sibanda sat there in silence, perhaps still in shock that their son has been missing for 10 days.

Ms Ncube said she thought that Prince, an aspiring volleyball player at school, had run home.

“When we couldn’t see him, his siblings started laughing saying Prince has run home, but they had the house keys.

When we got home (in Sunninghill suburb), Prince wasn’t there. We called him on his cellphone and it wasn’t going through,” said Ms Ncube.

Soon they started getting worried as Prince did not return home that night.

The next day Ms Ncube said with her husband they went to report Prince as missing at the Zimbabwe Republic Police Hillside Station. They are appealing to members of the public to help find him.

Prince was last seen wearing a black and white long sleeve t-shirt, a blue Adidas cap with matching blue Nike takkies and a brown face mask.

Anyone who can help find Prince can contact their nearest police station or call or WhatsApp 0779139961 or 0778607723, said Ms Ncube.