Community members from Ha-Tshikhudo in Tshilata at Nzhelele were reeling from shock after the body of a 32-year-old man, Fhumulani Godfrey Mukwevho, was discovered hanging from a tree in the nearby bushes.

The body of the man was spotted by a resident who was fetching logs in the bushes last Thursday.

According to the family of the deceased, he apparently left home the previous afternoon and never returned. His devastated 83-year-old grandmother, who was staying with him, was shocked when she found out it was his body that had been found in the bush.

She said that she heard people talking about a person who had committed suicide in the bushes. She went to investigate, but did not for one moment think that it may be her grandson. “He was a person who often slept away from home. We thought he would come back as usual, but to our surprise we found him there,” she added, referring to the bushes.

The deceased's younger brother, Gudani Mukwevho, said he spoke to him the previous night and he told him that life was hard and no one would know what he was going through. “He told me to take all his belongings and that Thabelo (a girl) would come and cook for the family,” he said.

The village’s civic member, Mr Masuthulela Phalanndwa, said the deceased was a person loved by almost everyone in the village. He used to help during funerals at the village. “His death shocked everyone in the community. He was always happy,” he said.

Some members of the community blamed the police for arriving late at the scene and accused them of rather attending minor cases such as when people are playing cards in the streets. Siloam police station spokesperson, W/O Edward Tharaga, reacted to this criticism and said communities should know that police vehicles are often attending to different matters and may not arrive at a scene immediately. “By the time we heard about the incident, all vans were attending to other matters. We had to cancel other trips to get a vehicle there in time,” he said.