It has been more than a month since the family of Dwayne Nash (45) was left shattered by shock and confusion following his disappearance.

They are convinced he is deceased after a man’s body was discovered in a forest last Friday, reports Lowvelder.

Nash’s disappearance

Nash vanished on February 4 after reportedly telling domestic workers at his residence that he was leaving for a week and would not require their services.

Three weeks after his disappearance, his vehicle, a Daihatsu Rocky, was found stripped in a plantation.

Nash’s nephew Heinrich Britz has accused police of failing to properly investigate the scenes where his uncle’s vehicle and body were found – only kilometres apart on the R40 between White River and Hazyview.

Nash’s nephew visits White River

Britz, who visited both sites on Tuesday, told Lowvelder that he himself discovered his uncle’s ID lying just five metres from where the body was found.

“The police did a disgraceful job. The rope was still hanging in the tree, and some of his remains were still there,” Britz said.

A forestry investigator, who requested anonymity, confirmed that he had seen the vehicle as early as February 9 and repeatedly phoned the Hazyview Police Station to report the suspicious Daihatsu.

“The police ignored my calls. They never collected the vehicle, and after six days it was gone,” he said.

A man from Tzaneen who had sold Nash the vehicle in December phoned the family on February 26 to say police had contacted him about the stripped Rocky.

At that time, ownership had not yet been transferred to Nash.

Britz said he was unable to identify the body at Themba Hospital in Kabokweni due to the advanced stage of decomposition and is now forced to wait for police to release DNA results.

The Mpumalanga Department of Health previously erroneously informed Lowvelder that Nash’s body was in the morgue at Mapulaneng Hospital.

Moments before Britz was about to leave Modimolle (formerly Nylstroom) to identify the remains, officials admitted they did not belong to Nash.

Nash’s car remains a mystery

Critical questions remain unanswered – most notably, how Nash’s vehicle was moved from its original location to the plantation.

Provincial police spokesperson Colonel Mavela Masondo admitted that police initially tried to establish if the vehicle was reported stolen, but found no record.

“It was during this time when police were told that the person to who the car was registered had since sold it to someone else,” said Masondo.

Police then traced the new owner to Nash, and his family confirmed the vehicle belonged to him.

Only then did police advise the family to open a missing person’s case, registered in Modimolle, where Britz resides.

Shockingly, Nash’s vehicle was only towed to the White River police premises five days later.

Police claimed they couldn’t tow it earlier because their records showed no suspicion of a crime.

When Lowvelder visited the site the same day (March 3), the vehicle was finally towed, but the scene was not cordoned off, and personal belongings were left behind.

Police recover a man’s body

Two days later, a passerby discovered a man’s body after noticing a strong odour coming from the forest.

The eyewitness reported that the head of the deceased was covered with plastic and hanging from a tree, while the rest of the body had fallen to the ground due to decomposition.

Police, paramedics, and forensic investigators were summoned. Items found near the body included Daihatsu Rocky car keys, a Formula 1 cap, and a cigarette lighter.

“I am devastated that I had to read in the newspaper that a body was found near where his car was parked. Police should have informed us immediately,” Britz said furiously.

Masondo said an inquest has been opened and that DNA samples will be taken to determine if the remains are those of a person reported missing in Modimolle.

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