Johannesburg - Scavengers in search of recyclable goods at a busy landfill site made a discovery they had not bargained for.
Among the waste, under the hot winter sun, were the rotting remains of two people, including those of an 8-year-old boy.
The collectors were sorting through the rubbish for plastic, cardboard and other recyclables, which are dumped at the Simmer and Jack landfill site in Germiston, on Wednesday when they found two bodies in the rubble.
One waste collector, who asked not to be identified, told The Star on Friday morning that it was a harrowing sight.
“I could see the bodies, but I was too scared to get close,” he said. “One of them was a child; I don’t understand how they ended up here because there are a lot of security guards checking on people who come in.”
This gruesome discovery of the child was found beside that of a 41-year-old man, who is believed to have been responsible for the child’s death as well as his own, earlier this month.
The child in this incident is thought to have been kidnapped by the man, who was his mother’s boyfriend, and later killed by him.
However, it is still not clear how both their corpses ended up at the landfill site.
Police spokesman Captain George Raphula said the child’s mother reported him missing on August 17.
She told the police that her boyfriend had kidnapped the boy.
“The suspect was known to us and we were looking for him and the child,” said Raphula.
The bodies of the child and his alleged kidnapper were found at the landfill site covered with a duvet.
According to reports, the man kidnapped the boy following an argument with his girlfriend after she apparently refused his proposal for marriage.
Raphula said the bodies were not found with any visible wounds on them so the cause of the pair’s death was still under investigation.
“We will conduct a post mortem on both the boy and the man to determine the cause of their deaths,” he said.
An inquest docket has since been opened.
The Star