Disappearance ‘broke her mother’s heart’
Even when Sandra November, 48, took her last breath last Tuesday morning, she had not given up hope of finding her daughter Shasha-Lee.
Shasha-Lee, 6, disappeared three years ago outside their house in Hanover Park, Cape Town. She had just started Grade 1.
Jasmine Harris, 30, Shasha-Lee’s eldest sister, said this week: “My mother died of a broken heart. That is what happens to the mothers of missing children.”
November developed asthma from anxiety, and was taken to hospital last Monday with a tight chest. Her heart stopped, and after slipping into a coma she was put on life support. But her body gave in.
“My mom kept all Shasha-Lee’s clothes,” said Harris. “She would sit outside our house waiting, hoping she would come around the corner.”
Harris herself is still haunted by memories of March 3 2015, when the family had just eaten their Sunday lunch. “I was the last person to give my little sister some food. Then she went to play outside with my little boy … We never saw her again.”
Yaseen Johaar, of Women2Women, who holds an annual vigil for Shasha-Lee, said SA had “the best constitution” when it came to children, “but the reality is not as good”.