A girl went missing, seizing South Africa’s attention. Now her mother is charged with selling her

By GERALD IMRAY
Associated Press

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — The mother of a 6-year-old girl who has been missing in South Africa for nearly three weeks has been arrested and charged with kidnapping and selling or trafficking her daughter. It’s a shocking twist in a case that has seized the country’s attention and sparked deep anger in the small, poor coastal community where the family lives. The girl, Joslin Smith, has still not been found amid fears she may have been taken to a different city or even out of the country. Her mother and three others, two men and a woman, were charged Thursday with kidnapping and human trafficking offenses as a large, angry crowd gathered outside the courthouse.