Johannesburg - A Soweto teacher has disappeared without a trace under mysterious circumstances, leaving his wife anxious and fearful.
Mxolisi Mlangeni, who is the deputy principal at Morris Isaacson Secondary School in Central Western Jabavu, has been missing since the beginning of the year and his wife is worried sick.
Hlengiwe Mlangeni said she had no idea where to begin searching for her husband.
The deputy principal – who also serves as a maths and physical science teacher – left his home in Bergville, KwaZulu-Natal, on Monday morning last week and hasn’t been seen since.
Speaking to The Star, Hlengiwe said Mxolisi was seen by his mother the morning before he went missing.
“I was told by his mother that the last time she saw him he was getting ready (that morning)."
“He was fine – not emotional or anything like that. But she says when she returned from doing some errands, he was gone.”
Hlengiwe said their plan had been to return to their home in Protea Glen, Soweto, on January 2, to allow him to be there for the release of the Grade 12 results two days later. But when she called and failed to get hold of him, she became concerned.
“I called him repeatedly on the 2nd (of January) and he didn’t pick up – that’s very unlike him,” she said. “When I called his mother on the 3rd, and she told me that he hadn’t come home, I reported the matter to the police.”
Hlengiwe said there were people who said they had seen him with a friend who lived not far from their Bergville home.
However, the friend had disputed that.
“When this friend was asked, he told us he hadn’t seen him, which is strange because there are people who saw them together on the 2nd. They even went to the police to explain this,” she said.
Hlengiwe was still in KwaZulu-Natal as the family had buried Mxolisi’s younger brother on Thursday.
Principal Steven Khanyile described Mxolisi as a dedicated member of the Morris Isaacson family, one who spent time to make sure that the students didn’t suffer.
“He is a very dedicated science and maths teacher. Last year, he taught the matrics science and his morning classes would begin as early as 6:30am. And depending on the amount of work he wanted to go through, he’d work as late as 6pm,” Khanyile said.
KwaZulu-Natal provincial police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Thulani Zwane said the police were investigating Mlangeni’s disappearance.
“We would like to appeal to the public to come forward with any information they may have regarding Mr Mlangeni’s disappearance.
“At the moment, the police are following the leads they’ve received,” Zwane said.
It has been a week and three days since Mxolisi went missing, and the one thing that Hlengiwe has is the hope that her husband will return safely to her.
“I want him to come back to me because I need him, and our children need him too,” she said.