THABANI’S BODY HAD NO EYES, HAD 3 HOLES - MUM

MATSAPHA - Thabani Nkomonye’s body did not have eyes, had a hole on his right shoulder, thigh and next to the stomach.

It was not explicitly mentioned if these were injuries caused by bullets. This is according to the deceased’s mother, Siphiwe Mkhabela’s submissions before the Coroner, Senior Magistrate Nonhlanhla Dlamini, who is leading the inquest into the death of Thabani. Thabani is the 25-year-old man who is said to have died in a car accident on Saturday, May 8, 2021 at Nhlambeni, along the Mhlaleni–Nhlangano Public Road. A Mazda Demio sedan, which he was driving on the day, was found stationary about 15 metres away from the main road and it was subsequently towed by police officers to the Matsapha Police Station on the same night of the accident.

Searched

Despite that police reportedly searched for his body on the night of the accident and the subsequent day, it was not found until on the sixth day – following Thursday, about 25 metres from where his vehicle was towed.
The delay in the discovery of the body raised questions among a variety of sectors in society and a diversity of insinuations were shared on social media, with many insinuating that the police allegedly had a hand in his death. This resulted in the #JusticeForThabani movement, whereupon the police were ordered to answer to a number of questions as their account of events did not make sense to the commentators. Thereafter, the Acting Prime Minister, Themba Masuku, appointed a coroner in a bid to try and solve the mystery surrounding the death of Thabani, who was also a Law students at the University of Eswatini (UNESWA).

Mkhabela, who was the first witness to lead evidence during the inquest which started yesterday at His Majesty’s Correctional Services (HMCS) College in Matsapha, was called to make submissions before the coroner because she was among those who discovered her son’s body and she also identified him at the mortuary. She alleged that on Friday May 14, 2021, she was called by the police from Matsapha Police Station and invited her to come for a post-mortem which was to be conducted at the Raleigh Fitkin Memorial (RFM) Hospital’s mortuary. Upon her arrival at the hospital, the deceased’s mother claimed that the police asked her to come with them to identify Thabani’s body.

“They showed me about seven bodies and asked me to identify the corpse of Thabani. Unfortunately, my son’s body was not there,” she submitted. Thereafter, she purported that the police showed her one of the bodies, which had dreadlocks and they supposed that it was the one for Thabani. She claimed that she looked at the body again, but saw that it was not the one of her son. She claimed that the only similarity that she saw were the dreadlocks. Later on, she said personnel from Dups Funeral Home came and confirmed that indeed Thabani’s body was not there and they went back. However, she alleged that about one and half hours later, the personnel from Dups Funeral Home came back with Thabani’s body.

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