The curious case of the black Buddha
Nobody knows who placed this little statue on a manhole in Umdloti.
When the workers laying the fibre optic cable in Umdloti arrived at one of the manholes last week, they were shocked to see a small, black Buddha statue standing on the cover.
They were reportedly too scared to move the figurine with the golden cloak and the bracelet around its hand, in case it had some deeper meaning.
The workers were once again baffled, and somewhat relieved, when they arrived to work two days later and saw the Buddha was removed.
Umdloti residents thought the Buddha was placed there to protect the cables from being stolen, others thought it prayed for rain. Arnold Kruger thinks the Buddha is quite fitting where it is.
“A Buddha is all about finding that nowhere state through meditation, so if you think about it, that Buddha has been found doing nothing in the middle of nowhere.”
Umdlotian Paul Trethewey said he saw the Buddha sitting on one of the wooden poles on the other side of the road last week. Either way, the curious visitor made for an entertaining week and who knows, it might just pop up somewhere else again.
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