LIMPOPO – Residents of Siyandhani village were surprised this week when a man they believed had died, and whose funeral they had contributed to, returned home alive. James Bvunyenge, a 46-year-old Zimbabwean national known locally as James Sithole, had been reported missing after failing to return home for several weeks while working away from the village.

An unidentified body, which the relatives identified as his, was later found in Thomo village.

Funeral arrangements were subsequently made, with community members, friends and relatives contributing funds totalling more than R25 000 to help transport his body to Zimbabwe.

Friend’s doubts about identification dismissed

However, Sithole’s close friend and fellow construction worker, Percy Mabasa, known locally as Mabaxa, said he had doubts about whether the body was that of his friend.

Mabaxa said he had worked closely with Sithole for years and knew him well. He said Sithole had a disability on one of his fingers, which he sustained while with him.

“I wanted to prove this, but they refused to let me see the body,” explained Mabaxa, adding that his concerns increased when Sithole’s 14-year-old daughter also insisted that the body was not that of her father.

He said his family initially took the body for DNA testing but later decided to bury him without a DNA test.

Sithole learns of his own death

Unaware that his family and community back home had already declared him dead and buried, Sithole continued with his life until he unexpectedly met someone from his village who broke the news of his supposed death and decided to come back.

Asked where he had been, Sithole said he had left the area to do construction piece jobs outside Giyani and later moved from one job to another without returning home.

“Since I was living alone, I did not bother to return home,” said Sithole.

It was after he had returned to Giyani to work in Mageva village that he met a woman from Siyandhani village who knew him.

“She told me that they had buried me and that the village had even contributed money towards my burial,” explained Sithole.

Community celebrates his return

From there, the news that he was alive quickly spread, leading to community members sending a vehicle to fetch him in Mageva.

“When I arrived back, everybody was happy and celebrating. They did not seem to mind the fact that they had contributed money for the burial of the wrong person,” he said.

Sithole said he was grateful to learn that members of the community had cared enough to contribute toward his funeral, but he felt sad that they had done so for the wrong person.

“Although I’m grateful, it pains me to think that they forked out their hard-earned money to bury the wrong person,” he said.

Police confirm awareness of the case

Giyani police spokesperson Sergeant Ridgewell Rikhotso confirmed that police were aware of the matter.

He said police were called to Thomo village on February 8 this year after the body of an unknown man was discovered. He said the body was then taken to the mortuary, where a post-mortem examination was conducted, after which the matter was left in the hands of the hospital to take care of the body.

Rikhotso said police were recently “surprised when people arrived at the police station to report that the person they believed had died and been buried had resurfaced alive.”

“Statements were taken, but that’s all I can say at this stage,” he said.

Meanwhile, the identity of the man who was buried in Zimbabwe after being mistaken for Sithole remains unknown.