Times Of Swaziland: DEAD MAN FOUND FLOATING IN MBABANE RIVER

DEAD MAN FOUND FLOATING IN MBABANE RIVER
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Delisa Thwala on 07/04/2022 08:45:00


MBABANE – Mbabane Market came to a standstill when a man was discovered dead
in the Mbabane River.
He was discovered just under the bridge before reaching the main arena of the
Mbabane Market. The man, whose identity is still unknown, was discovered by a
woman yesterday at 5pm.
The horrified woman, when describing the incident, said it was shocking and
unbelievable. “I thought it was just rubbish until I grabbed a log and tried
to grab the floating ‘rubbish’ but it turned out to be a body,” said
Fikelephi Shongwe. She further said the man, when finally pulled out of the
river, was discovered to have fractured his head and his body was pale.
The man was clad in black sweat pants, polka dot boxer shorts and what seemed
like a black jacket.
Theories about the cause of his death started circulating as soon as Shield
Field Security personnel wrapped his body in blue cloth. “He died a long time
ago and he was in the water for some time, then today his body was discovered on
this side of the river,” one onlooker was heard saying. Another said they had
seen the deceased jump from the other side of the river, fractured his head and
then floated to the other side of the Mbabane River. Worth noting was that the
deceased’s body was swapped with flies and had a foul smell even from as
distance. The place was also filled with people who kept asking who the dead man
was and what might have happened to him.
On arrival at the scene, Royal Eswatini Police Services (REPS), spent 30 minutes
gathering information. They later started inspecting the corpse, took pictures
of the dead man and conducted interviews with the witnesses. “Asikwati ke
loku, what happened here is horrible but we are used it, let us get to work,”
one of the police officers said. The police further asked the people at the
scene to identify the person who had seen the dead man jump into the river but
no one came forward. “He seems to have died a long time ago, and he floated
this side. Maybe he drowned elsewhere,” said Mancoba Shiba, who was found at
the scene. Means to identify the man or locate his family proved futile as
people could not recognise him. Chief Police Information and Communications
Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati confirmed the matter.