ALMOST BURIED A STRANGER
A devastated 57-year-old widow in Kanye, Annah Khumoetsile Moleseng this week narrated how she almost buried a dead stranger, after being identified by family members as her missing son.
The woman says the whole matter has caused divisions in the family and that it was difficult for her to accept her 21-year-old son again, after he returned home while his burial preparations were ongoing.
Speaking to The Midweek Sun at her residence in Kanye on Monday, Moleseng pleaded with the publication to publish a photograph of her third born son Botshelo Joel Moleseng, so that the public can help get her son to return home again after he once more moved away from the family homestead.
She said in February 2023, she reported the matter at Sejelo Police Station that her son went missing. Following the report, police officers discovered a dead body and approached her on suspicions that it was her son.
'They asked us to go and identity the body. I felt weak and could not go to the scene. I asked his elder brother and other relatives to go instead,' she said.
She said they returned with the news that it was indeed her son. Moleseng quickly spread the sad news that her son was dead, and she prepared for his burial. Two days when they were holding a memorial service, her son Botshelo returned home.
'We stopped the burial proceedings. I informed the pastors that my son had returned home alive. The identified corpse was at the mortuary by then,' she explained.
The whole issue has destroyed her to a point that she sought counselling from Sbrana Psychiatrist Hospital. 'It was difficult to accept my son back home again. I could not sleep the evening he returned. I had to call another relative to stay for the night,' the worried mother said, now agonising on the fact that the son has disappeared again.
Moleseng is worried that when her son left home again on May 9th, he told her that he is tired of being a part of a struggling family and promised to never return home again.
She has now become a laughing stock as residents mock her, saying that her son has turned himself into a mysterious Mmakgodumo snake that keeps disappearing for no reason.
'My son is not a snake, I plead with him to return home. I am afraid to report to the police again that my son is missing. I have reported before. I believe they will never take me seriously if I report again. I almost buried a stranger, we were later told the stranger is from Bobonong,' she said.
When reached for a comment, Station Commander for Kanye Police Superintendent Mogomotsi Matlapeng suggested that the old woman should not shy away from reporting if she needs to, saying once a report of a missing person is made, Police would assist in the matter accordingly.