Sheldean sympathisers swamp crime portal

Johannesburg, 08 Mar 2007

Concerned South Africans swarmed to eBlockwatch's site to offer aid and sympathy as police officials sought to locate abducted seven-year-old Shedean Human.

eBlockwatch founder Andre Snyman says the case of deceased Human resonated with many South Africans who sought an outlet to offer help and support to Human's family and people involved in her tracing.

The site received 1.8 million hits in the last 30 days, with over 270 000 people clicking through to a forum designed to keep the community and law enforcement officials involved in the case in touch.

"We received a call on 19 February from a family member to ask if we could assist in the search for Sheldean. We immediately sent in excess of 5 000 SMSes to people living in the area to alert them to the disappearance," he says.

"News of the missing girl quickly spread and we organised a forum which would enable Superintendent Andre Neethling to tell communities what was happening and relay any calls for assistance. The response was truly phenomenal - people who had never met Sheldean or her family, lived the situation along with them."

Hope amidst tragedy

Although the Human case has had a disturbing end, Snyman says that eblockwatch sees 10 missing children returned to their parents for every one that is lost. And it is these cases that keep him going.

"Support and interest is growing rapidly and we are building a formidable network of communities that can be mobilised in short time frames to address issues. All the same we do need help - eBlockwatch is currently privately funded and we don't have resources available to hire technically skilled people to administer community networks. If you have Web administration skills, broadband access and desire to help your community, we really need your help," he says.

Go pink

eBblockwatch members are now organising a demonstration in support of the Human family. E-mails and SMSes have covered the country encouraging individuals and companies to don pink shirts and jeans - like Human was wearing at the time of her disappearance.

One email reads: "To demonstrate our outrage at the slaughtering of an innocent child, a decision was taken tonight by members of eBlockWatch (www.eblockwatch.co.za) that all its members and fellow South Africans will wear pink shirts and jeans on Friday, 9 March 2007. We will also gather at the court where the culprit will be appearing on this day, to shout out our frustration, calling upon our Government and communities to stand up against crime."

While Snyman says the campaign was not his idea, he is supporting the initiative.

"This campaign was developed by people interacting on our forum in response to news that Sheldean's body had been found. From there, it literally found a life of its own. We support any initiative that gets the community involved in fighting crime," he explains.