The long weekend of June 16 turned into a nightmare for the Nkomo family when their 29-year-old son did not return home.
Banele Nkomo, nicknamed Bhuti-Bhuti, went out with his friends to enjoy the long holiday and never came back. “He disappeared on Sunday June 16. We were not too worried, because we thought he was still enjoying the long weekend with his friends. We started getting nervous when he did not come home, even after the long weekend,” said Calisile Nkomo, his mother.
She said she had opened a missing person’s case at the local police station and a search was launched immediately. “While we remained hopeful that the police would tell us that they somehow found my son still alive, a young man came in to tell us that blood spots were seen around a dumpsite nearby. We made our way there immediately, only to be met by his sneakers, which were floating in some water. It was all hands on deck. We got the machinery to dig out the trash and mud underneath it and we found my son’s body.”
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She said Banele’s hands and feet were tied.
“It’s a scene I am still struggling to get out of my head. My son’s hands were tied to a rock and his feet as well. The rocks would have kept him sunk in the mud and we might not have found him. When we collected his body, the doctor told us there was a high possibility he might have been buried alive, because his lungs were filled with water. We don’t know who might have done such an inhumane thing to our humble son. The whole family is shattered,” she added.
Banele was laid to rest on Sunday June 23.
The body of another man was found partially burnt in Magudu on Thursday June 27. It is alleged that the community had suspected him of murdering Banele.
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“An inquest was opened in the first incident and investigations are still under way. We are still awaiting post-mortem results. Only then will we be able to tell if this is a murder case or not. The case of the second body in Magudu was reported by the chief in the area. A murder case was opened and it is also still under investigation,” a provincial police spokesperson, Colonel Donald Mdhluli, said.
