THE Mariannhill family of Vusi Khambule (34), who went missing several weeks ago, strongly believe that the decomposed body discovered in the area on Friday (October 16) night is his, while the KZN SAPS have confirmed that following the discovery of the skeletal remains, an inquest docket was registered by the local police.

KZN SAPS spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Paul Magwaza said the remains were discovered on Dabe Road in Tshelimnyama, Mariannhill.

“DNA will be conducted to establish whether the remains are those of missing Vusi Khambule, who was reported missing,” said Magwaza.

However, Khambule’s family told the Highway Mail that because of identifying features on the flesh remains which had not decomposed to skeleton, they are confident that it is him.

Khambule’s sister, Phumzile Langazane, said her brother, Blessing, identified these features and confirmed that it was his remains.

Langazane added that another identifier is that the clothes on the skeletal remains match those that Khambule was wearing on the last day he was seen.

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She said a local resident was the first to make the grisly discovery and they then alerted others in the area until word reached the family, which prompted Blessing to borrow a torchlight from a neighbour and head to the site of the find.

Blessing, said Langazane, was the one who alerted the police, and on Monday morning made his way to the police station where, as per the family’s instructions, was expected to request the police to forgo the DNA testing because they are certain that those are Khambule’s remains.

“The DNA testing is going to take time and we are sure that it is him,” said Langazane.

The Khambule family, she added, want a thorough police probe to determine Khambule’s cause of death.

Blessing had previously said that Khambule was reported missing to the Mariannhill SAPS on September 19 after he had been missing for about three days.

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