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Mom says cops did not bother to call

Sakhile Mokoena

Sakhile Mokoena

Mpumalanga police have been accused of keeping the body of a missing man for a month in a government mortuary without informing his family.

The family of Kgaugelo Matsane of Mariti in Bushbuckridge said they reported him missing four months ago.

Kgaugelo's mother, Melita Matsane, said, though the badly decomposed body of Kgaugelo was discovered last month, she was only informed last week.

"The cops did not bother to call me after discovering his body.

"It was only last week when I had gone to see the station commissioner that I was called to identify a body that was found a month ago. I discovered it was my son's body," said Matsane.

Police spokesman Sydney Tshuketana denied the police informed the family a month after they discovered the body of Kgaugelo.

"We have been in touch with Kgaugelo's mother since she reported her son missing," said Tshuketana.

"I even advised her to come to check if the body was at our mortuary, but she never came. So it is unfair to accuse the police of shoddy work."

Matsane also said she suspected foul play because her son's body was found lying on the ground, while his head was hanging from a rope on a tree.

"His shoes were also found on top of his body," said Matsane.

But police said they suspected the body dropped from the head because it had decomposed.

Kgaugelo went missing in March after he was put under the care of a traditional healer who was treating his painful leg.

Matsane said the traditional healer had phoned her to tell her that her son had gone missing.

She said she immediately reported the matter to the Calcutta police station and also provided the police with pictures of her son.

Police are investigating.

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