Missing woman dies near church hall

A 31-year old woman of Msahweni, who went missing from home since last Thursday, was yesterday found by a passerby next to a church hall in Pigg’s Peak town.
She was later certified dead at Pigg’s Peak Government Hospital and sources suspect she drank a poisonous substance, something that was also confirmed by the police.                                          
A community policewoman of Msahweni said Khanyisile Nzalo (nee Dlamini) left her matrimonial home in the area to visit her sister at Zibonele – a few kilometres away. Nzalo and her sister were involved in handiwork and often shared proceeds from this.                              
“From time to time, the two will pay each other visits on business matters hence she left on the day with the same mission. Along the way to her sister’s place, she noticed two gentlemen following her and immediately notified her husband through the mobile phone.                      
“We suspect the men caught up with her as when the husband called later, the phone was off. It dawned to us that something amiss might have happened to her and immediately set out to look for her,” said the police woman who did not want to be identified.                                                   
prayer
She said they had since then been searching for the woman and would conduct prayer meetings as well in the area where she disappeared at; Zibonele.                                                                                                                          
As they combed the area and nearby mountains, a certain man provided leads when he claimed to have heard screams for help but did not take it seriously then until he met the search party.                                      
“We’ve been searching for her everywhere, returning to our homes in dusk - sometimes after 6pm and the issue worried us a lot, especially her two children. Police have joined us in some of these searches and we were on the verge of mobilising more community police through Senator Robert Zwane’s assistance when he got the sad news she had passed on,” the source said.                           
Attempts to obtain comments from family members on the issue proved futile as their phones were unavailable on the network.                                                                                                     
Police PRO Senior Superintendent Vusi Masuku confirmed the incident, adding investigations were ongoing to ascertain the cause of death.                                                                                     
“She is suspected to have drank a noxious or poisonous substance as she was discovered writhing in pain by a member of the public. A post mortem would be conducted on her body on Friday and extensive investigations are ongoing,” he said.                                                 
Timphisini MP Jennifer Shiba, under whose constituency the area falls under, expressed disappointment that victims of such occurrences were in the majority of instances women.
“Obviously, men are not targeted for such crimes and we are not safe as women. The other downside about the whole thing is that it paints a bad picture about the Kingdom i.e. as if ritual murderers thrive here,” she said.

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