A soldier who disappeared and was missing for a whole week and was found dead under mysterious circumstances last weekend received a military funeral at the weekend.

Joesph Musehane (58) of Thshisahulu Posaito, who was attached to 15SAI Batallion at Vuwani, was found dead behind his house nine days after his disappearance. The family and community searched for him for the whole week, without finding any trace of him. The decomposed body was found when neighbours could not bear the bad stench any more and alerted the family to the smell coming from the direction of the house.

More than a thousand mourners packed a makeshift tent that was erected in the street adjacent to his house for the funeral.

Mourners included fellow soldiers, ZCC members, family members, distinguished scholar Prof Musehane and friends. The procession started at the home of the dead soldier in the morning.

Fellow soldiers formed a guard of honour when the body of their comrade was taken to the hearse which was to take him to his final resting place. At the graveyard, the coffin, draped in the South African flag, was carried by soldiers, while the others formed a guard of honour, which was complemented by uniformed members of the ZCC, the church to which he belonged.

Mourners were told of the keen interest and dedication the soldier showed in his work as a plumber in the army. "He was a dedicated soldier who gave his all to his work. He was the only plumber at 15SAI Batallion and we do not even know how we are going to cope without him,” said Cpl Justice Tshimomola.

The local traditional leader, Khosi Vho Thivhulawi Makumbane and also the mayor of Thulamela, who looked very agitated by the recent killings in his area, called on all churches and community members to pray that the killers of Musehane be exposed. He said they had tried everything so far and nothing seemed to be helping, and that divine intervention could lead to the killer´s being exposed.

“We searched all over and we failed. Then churches prayed and his body was found. Now we need to know who the killers are and I have all the trust in God that, if we all come together and pray, He will reveal these monsters and they will be arrested,” he said.

Makumbane said he was saddened by the recent trend where people in his village were just killed and the killers were never brought to book. He urged the police to speed up their work and to arrest whoever was responsible for the murder.

“We are worried that if these cases are not resolved as a matter of urgency, our people might be tempted to behave badly, somehow. We do not want that to happen in our village. When people say bad things about our village, our dignity is eroded."

Makumbane urged everyone in the community to work together with the police, so that they put a speedy halt to the spiralling crime in the village.