Family claims police ‘hinder’ its efforts to get missing son’s body

A family that has been trying to exhume the body of their son  is still struggling to get access to the body three years later.

Banele Oscar Mthembu went missing in June 2020 from his home in Rethabiseng, near Bronkhorstspruit. Without his family being notified, his corpse was buried in a pauper’s funeral after he was found killed along a road in KwaMhlanga, Mpumalanga.  

According to a police report seen by Sowetan, Mthembu was hit by a truck on June 10 2020 while trying to cross the road. He was certified dead on the scene. 

Since then his family had been searching for him. They opened a missing person’s case at the Bronkhorstspruit police three months after his disappearance in the hopes of widening the search. 

“Meanwhile, my brother’s body is lying in a cemetery 30km away from home,” said an emotional brother, Sipho Mthembu. 

Mthembu said the family found out what happened in March when a government official came to inform them. Since then they have been sent from pillar to post with neither the mortuary nor the police willing to help despite confirming the death.

“The person that informed me said he had reasons to believe that my brother had been buried by the government and was not sure why we were not contacted. I was shattered. We have never been formally contacted, not by the KwaMhlanga police or any government official. But the person shared documents of the accident,” Sipho said.

“We went to the mortuary and while they said they knew about the case, they told us that they could only help us through the police given that they were investigating the case. Attempts to reach the investigating officer and the station commander at the KwaMhlangu SAPS failed. I kept being told that they are not available.”

The desperate family wrote to the provincial police commissioner’s office with no response.

“We have been sent from pillar to post trying to get his body. It is bad enough that they buried him without us even knowing, but they won’t even give us his body.” 

Mpumalanga police spokesperson Selvy Mohlala confirmed that Banele had been buried but blamed the mortuary for conducting the burial without informing the police. 

“On June 10 2020, a case of culpable homicide was reported where an unknown male was hit by a truck on the R568 road in Loopspruit. The deceased was taken to KwaMhlanga government mortuary. The case was taken to KwaMhlanga detectives where it was investigated,” Mohlala said. 

“Kwamhlanga government mortuary took fingerprints and DNA of the deceased to help find the family. The KwaMhlanga detectives were waiting for the report from the department. The pauper funeral was done by the department without informing KwaMhlanga SAPS.” 

When asked what follow-ups detectives had made on the case, Mohlala did not respond. 

“The family may contact KwaMhlanga state mortuary since they have information on deceased victims.” 

It is not clear when Banele was buried. 

Mpumalanga department of health spokesperson Dumisani Malamule did not respond to Sowetan’s inquiries. 

sibiyan@sowetan.co.za