–– Gideon Mpeni
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The mother of a South African girl, who disappeared aged six more than a year ago, has been convicted of kidnapping and trafficking her daughter.
Kelly Smith and other suspects were arrested after her daughter, Joshlin, went missing from outside her home in Saldanha Bay, near Cape Town, in February last year. The drama unfolded as court proceedings were conducted. Evidence unmasked the depraved heart of the once dear mother, now caught up in the demonic act of child trafficking.
The case attracted widespread media attention, from the SABC, to BBC Africa . Kelly Smith seemed cold throughout the process. One witness revealed that Kelly once stated that she had done “something silly” and sold her daughter to a traditional healer, known in South Africa as a “sangoma”. The “person who [allegedly took] Kelly’s daughter wanted her for her eyes and skin”, the witness told the court.
The other shocking revelation in this case was that this woman planned her act as far back as two years ago. A local pastor testified that in 2023, he heard Smith, a mother of three, talk of selling her children for 20,000 rand ($1,100; £850) each, though she had said she was willing to accept a lower figure of $275.
What a treacherous act! We are reminded of that first-century traitor, who sold out his Master for thirty pieces of silver.
Kelly Smith is a greedy mother. Her quest for temporal goods was viewed as ultimate, it became an all-consuming cancer that ruined the life of her daughter and her own future. Wisdom says that greed for unjust gain takes away the life of its possessor (Prov. 1:19). Our Lord Jesus listed greed among the pollutions of the human heart, right along with murder and adultery (Mark 7:21-22).
Jesus prefaced the parable of the rich fool by saying, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15).
The root word for covetousness is the same word used for greed in Mark 7:21-22. It’s defined as “the state of desiring to have more than one’s due,” or “a strong desire to acquire more and more material possessions or to possess more things than other people have, all irrespective of need.” The irony is that even a pagan like Plato had the sense to recognise, “The desire of man is like a sieve or a pierced vessel which he ever tries to, and can never fill.”
As we think of the depths of evil that the love of money can drive one to, let us examine our society. How many are on their way to work, rushing for shady deals? How many government officials and citizens have violated their consciences, how many young girls have given up their purity, how many men have ruined their integrity and abandoned their sanity, just because they wanted more money, more power, and more recognition in society?
The general populace is a litmus test of what our society has become. Sadly, the church is often tethered to some of these statistics. How many are sitting in the church pews pondering evil? How many are parading in the name of God, calling themselves prophets and apostles, all the while serving mammon? How many Christians are indulging themselves in gambling or betting just because they want more money without working for it?
This has become an acceptable sin in the church. Adriel Sanchez asks something telling when he writes,
“Have you ever heard someone confess to being greedy? Perhaps more importantly, have you ever asked God to forgive you of your greed? Based on how infrequently this particular sin is named, one gets the sense that the immoderate love of possessing is something we rarely, if ever, struggle with.”
Many have feasted from the secular humanism menu served at John Dewey’s table. We have a generation whose stomachs are filled with human-centred morality, meaning that people in our society today think that right and wrong are determined by what works best for perceived human flourishing, not by divine command.
This exact lie is what fills the minds and hearts of Kelly Smith and many others. She was no mere opportunist as her lawyer suggested in the case, she is a woman who is depraved in her mind, deceived by her own heart, and now damned by the law of the land. Yet, given the gospel, she can be delivered.
Like all of mankind, Kelly is a woman in need of the Saviour, Jesus Christ, who was betrayed for thirty silver pieces, condemned, and crucified in the place of sinners.