'My heart has been ripped out'

 11 May, 2016

A passenger aircraft makes it's final landing approach. File photo.
Image by: TOBY MELVILLE / REUTERS

A UK man has not seen his twin daughters since they left on a "short holiday" and he fears they were illegally brought into South Africa.

It has been 50 days since the man, who cannot be named to protect his children's identity, last saw his 11-year-old daughters.

Speaking from his home in West Sussex, the 39-year-old father said he was worried whether he would ever get to see his children again.

He said that the girls left the UK with their mother and her South African fiancé in March.

He said they left without his legal consent, and that he had not signed the affidavit required by UK law allowing them to travel with their mother.

"I last spoke to the girls on February 18 when I wouldn't go to Heathrow airport to sign the affidavit. They said I'm horrible and that they hate me for not allowing them to go on holiday."

He said one of the twins had cerebral palsy and epilepsy, and he was concerned that she might not be receiving the required healthcare.

He said: "I feel like my heart has been ripped out. I'm finding it difficult to sleep and concentrate with the uncertainty of knowing if I will ever see my daughters again."

Shortly after opening a case with the UK police, he was told that the children were tracked to Zimbabwe, after travelling from the UK via Dubai. But, after that, the trail ran cold.

Home Affairs spokesman Mayihlome Tshwete said the department would investigate the matter, but that it had no record of the girls entering South Africa, although it found that the mother had arrived in the country in April and was still in South Africa.

Tshwete said: "Should it be found that the girls are in South Africa, it would mean they were smuggled into the country."

Chief director of Home Affairs' inspectorate, Modiri Matthews, said: "If this case proves the children were brought to South Africa illegally, it would justify why we initially put the [new anti-trafficking] regulations in place."

Sussex police Detective Inspector Andy Wolstenholme said they were working "closely" with the father on the case.

Hooman Nouruzi of the British High Commission in South Africa, said the commission was "providing advice in this case, and remains in contact with the relevant authorities".