A mother who found the body of her daughter at the Germiston mortuary three months after she was reported missing, has accused the police of negligence and is considering lodging a complaint with Gauteng police commissioner Lieutenant-General Deliwe de Lange.
Malibongwe ‘Marley’ Msiza (21) went missing from her Centurion home and, according to her mother Roslyn Msiza, the last time her friends saw her she was with her boyfriend at Tswelopele in Tembisa on 29 October last year.
When they confronted the boyfriend, he allegedly told them Malibongwe had taken a taxi on the day of her disappearance after they had a fight. The family opened a missing person case at Ivory Park Police Station. Three months later, on 8 February, the family received a call from Olifantsfontein Police Station informing them that she had been involved in a car accident on 29 October and that her body was being kept at the Germiston mortuary.
“We are considering complaining to the provincial commissioner. We are not happy at all with the situation. Of course, we want answers as to exactly what happened and regarding the period they took to contact us,” said her mother.
Read Update: Missing Marley’s body found at Germiston mortuary
Roslyn said she was puzzled when police said they had found her body on 29 October yet failed to inform the family when they went to Olifantsfontein Police Station on 31 October. “We went to the same police station a day after they found Malibongwe’s body to ask the police to help us interrogate her boyfriend. However, nothing was said to us about the body of a girl that had been found, despite us complaining about our missing daughter,” she said.
Roslyn said they are waiting for post-mortem results from the mortuary which they expect to receive on 22 February. “A lot does not make sense. Police told us she was involved in a hit-and-run accident, which is information they got from people. Her body did not have any bruises. Only her face had bruises,” she said.
She said Malibongwe’s phone, which was found by police at the accident scene, apparently did not have a sim card. “Police said they had to insert their own sim card to call numbers saved on the phone. But why did it take them three months to do that?” she said.
Gauteng police spokesperson Colonel Lungelo Dlamini advised the family to lodge a complaint with the provincial commissioner if they were not satisfied. “The matter is under investigation,” he said.
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