THE brutal killing of a night guard on a farm between Ndabayake and Felixton has left his employer shocked and disgusted at the barbaric act.
Skumba Mthembu’s body was found burnt beyond recognition in a container close to where he had been stationed on duty on Friday evening.
His employer, business owner and philanthropist David Bell of Petlands Sugar Estate, made the gruesome
discovery on Saturday morning.
Bell was recently lauded by the local community after he, together with other stakeholders, introduced a state-of-the-art irrigation system to supply water to vegetable gardens of 30 members who are mainly senior women of the Nyonikayiphumuli Gardening Cooperative.
‘I went down to the gardens where they were planting seedlings at around 6:30am on Saturday morning.
‘Thereafter I went to check up on Mthembu.’
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Arriving at the container, Bell noticed a fire smouldering but no sight of Mthembu.
‘I thought he had knocked off as his shift was over so I went to check at the place he resides.
‘I couldn’t find him there either and it was only when I returned to the container, and the smoke had somewhat subsided, that I saw his body,’ he said.
While the motive is unclear and very little evidence on scene has been collected, Bell noted there were signs of a struggle.
‘There was blood on the door of the container so I can only presume there was some sort of fight or struggle.
‘They may just have come to rob him, because none of the electric cables he was guarding were tampered with or taken.
‘It’s just sad that there are people out there who have no respect or consideration for life.
‘Mthembu was a good guy; he worked for me for 15 years and had a good work history.
‘I just hope that whoever was involved in this will get caught and be prosecuted,’ Bell said.
A case of murder has been opened with Empangeni SAPS.
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