Missing Slade van der Walt’s partner pleads for help as search continues - IOL

Slade van der Walt and his partner Jordan-Lee Isaacs.

This is the heartbreaking lost future of Jordan-Lee Isaacs as the search for missing Slade van der Walt continues almost three weeks after he went missing in the waves off Strand beach.

Police and the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) both confirmed that search efforts remain active, but said there have been no new developments.

But for Isaacs, every passing day without answers has become increasingly difficult.

In an emotional TikTok video, she opened up about the reality of searching for the former Western Cape weightlifting champion and the father of her baby daughter.

Isaacs said a BackaBuddy campaign had raised almost its full target, with the hope of securing additional resources such as boats, jet-skis and drones to widen the search.

She said: “I am so tired of walking on the beach, of seeing the same things. You can’t see past a certain point in the water and it’s frustrating.

“It’s almost three weeks now and I don’t know what to do with my life. I can’t function as a human.”

The pain, she said, has also been deeply felt by their daughter, who is struggling to understand why her father has not returned home.

Isaacs said the child was becoming “more frustrated every day” about where her daddy was.

“I don’t know what to do without him. How do I stand in front of 50 children when I can’t even stand in front of my one child?” she said.

Before Van der Walt disappeared, the couple had been preparing for a major new chapter in their lives.

Isaacs revealed that they were planning to move to China in October.

Van der Walt had already completed his police clearance and was ready for the move, while Isaacs was waiting for just one outstanding document.

“Our life was literally about to start,” she said.

“Nothing that I have done matters anymore. We were supposed to live in the house, with our children running around in the house.”

What had been weeks filled with plans for a new country, a new home and a future together has instead turned into days spent walking beaches, searching the coastline and waiting for news.

Isaacs is now appealing for anyone who may have access to additional search equipment to assist the family.

For Isaacs, however, the lack of answers has left her suspended between the life the couple had planned and the painful uncertainty of not knowing where Van der Walt is.

Nearly three weeks on, she continues to search, plead for assistance and hold onto the hope of finding the man with whom she was preparing to begin a new life.