Durban - A Phoenix man who went missing more than a week ago has been found dead near his car in a sugar-cane field north of Durban.
The decomposing body of Jarvis Singano, 54, a project manager with the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Public Works in Greytown, was found near his damaged Hyundai Elantra in Osindisweni.
Police believe the car might have veered off the road into the cane field, where it had lain unnoticed until Monday.
Singano, a father of three, was returning from visiting a friend in Osindisweni on Sunday last week, according to his family. His wife, Cynthia, said she last heard from him that day when he had sent her a message at 8.10pm to say he was leaving Osindisweni.
When he did not arrive home, she opened a missing persons case at the Phoenix police station the next day.
“I was stressed and became tense not knowing where my husband was. I checked hospitals and police stations in the vicinity.
“My brother and I walked along the road, the only route he could have taken, to find any clues,” Cynthia said. “There were no tracks on the side of the road, suggesting that his car was airborne when it left the road.”
Police spokesman, Colonel Jay Naicker, said Singano presumably lost control of his vehicle and veered off the road near Oakford Priory, 2km from the Osindisweni Provincial Hospital.
Prem Balram, of Reaction Unit South Africa, said his security company had received a call that a car had been found in the cane field. His staff went to the scene, but did not see anyone in the car.
Balram said the guards and farmworkers had reacted to a stench and investigated.
They found the decomposing body about 50m from the vehicle. Singano’s cellphone was found several metres from his body.
Verulam police are investigating a case of culpable homicide.
Daily News