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The brother of a man whose decomposing body was found lying in a ditch on the side of the road last month is appealing for information on how his thirty one year old sibling was killed, this after his inquiries with the police have brought no answers to the desperate family.
Gotso Motkhatule says that his brother Thabiso (pictured on the right) had been missing for two months before his body was found on 3 July, lying 10 metres off the N2, by truck driver Donald Stroebel.
Stroebel says that it was just before 11am when, finding the Engen Petrol Station too full for him to park his truck and use the toilet, he had stopped just short of the Swartvlei Bridge to answer the call of nature.
“As I was walking down the slope I saw something. At first I thought it was a buck or something, but when I got closer I realised what it was and rushed to call the police,” he told us.
After waiting half an hour for SAPS to arrive, he saw a policeman driving past on the way to George. He flagged the vehicle down and told the officer driving what he had found – the SAPS member kindly offered to wait on the scene so Stroebel could carry on with his journey.
Later that morning SAPS members were able to identify the body, and Gotso was called to the scene to confirm it was his brother.
The coroner has listed the cause of death as ‘Under Investigation’ on the death certificate, and SAPS spokesman Sergeant Chris Spies says that no foul play is suspected in the case.
But Gotso says that he and his family are determined to find out how his brother could have met such an untimely death. Having seen the body, he believes Thabisa had been badly beaten up, and thinks that foul play did indeed occur.
He explained that Thabisa was due to be a witness in a court case, and that this had really scared him, hence he was in the habit of disappearing for days at a time. When he hadn’t returned for so long the family believed he had gone into hiding.
Gotso is calling for anyone with any information at all about his brother’s case to take it to the police – the case number is 48/07/2017.
