Broken Dreams - Tshepo found dead after failing fireman test

THE disappointment of a dream unrealised might have been too much to bear for a Soweto emergency services volunteer who went missing two months ago

The body of Tshepo Segalwe, 22, of Doornkop in Soweto, was found in an open field in Lenasia, south of Johannesburg, last Wednesday by a passer-by.

Segalwe was last seen by his family on the morning of March 28 when he left for the Rietfontein Fire Station Academy. He had gone to the academy to undergo testing in the hope that he would be hired permanently as a member of the Dobsonville fire station.

Segalwe had been volunteering as an ambulance assistant at the fire station since 2009.

This was the second time Segalwe had failed the test.

He had taken the failure very badly the first time and had threatened to take his life.

A colleague of Segalwe, who spoke on condition of anonymity, yesterday told Sowetan that Segalwe was so bitterly disappointed by his failure to make the grade that he threatened to take his own life.

"When he failed to make it the first time around, he immediately ran up the tower (at Rietfontein Fire Station Academy) and threatened to throw himself off.

"Some colleagues managed to convince him to come down."

Johannesburg emergency services Synock Matobako confirmed the incident. "What we know is that (after failing the test) he climbed to the top of the tower and threatened to kill himself," he said.

He said Segalwe failed a test which required him to run 2,5 kilometres in 12 minutes.

But when he failed again on March 28, Segalwe was never seen again.

It is not yet clear if he committed suicide but his father, Sidwell, said postmortem results would be released today.

"He was found in a field in Lenasia, some distance away from the Rietfontein Fire Station Academy. He was lying face up with his hands across his chest. Police found identity documents in his pockets but his phone was missing," said the heartbroken father.

"We now know he made a call to someone. Maybe it was to tell them that he was about to take his own life but we don't know.

"Tshepo was very excited the night before the test. He was hopeful that he would make it the second time," said the father.