‘We Found My Missing Son Dead in a Lake,’ Says Heartbroken Eastern Cape Mom

When Portia Mhlathi phoned her 18-year-old son on Saturday and he did not answer, she immediately knew something was wrong.

Unaware his remains were drifting in a lake, his face already being eaten away by fish, the Mthatha mother, roughly 520km away, frantically phoned everyone she could think of to help find him.

The Disappearance

Mhlathi said her nightmare ordeal started on Saturday. She called her son late that day and got no answerunusual because they spoke every day.

“I kept calling him but he did not pick up. We called each other almost every day and whenever I phoned he always picked up.”

By Sunday, she still had not heard anything about Lathitha , a first-year economics student at Nelson Mandela University who would have turned 19 in June.

Out of options, she called his roommate at the residence.

“I even called his roommate at the residence, and he said ‘no, mama, he is not here’. I was worried… I wanted to know where he was.”

She resorted to social media, posting on Facebook that her son was missing.

The Discovery

Her hope was completely annihilated on Tuesday morning when she was told a body had been found that looked just like him.

“They said he was wearing a red shirt and had dreadlocks. I knew it was my son, but I wanted to go to Gqeberha to see for myself. I knew I had to be there.”

With no fixed income, she went door to door, asking neighbours for money to make the long trip from Mthatha to Gqeberha.

On arrival, her worst fears came true. Her sister, who went with her, positively identified the body.

“It was my sister who saw his face. I was not in a good space to see the body myself.”

“My sister said it was him for sure, but his face looked like it had been bitten by the fish… He wasn’t injured otherwise and there were no other injuries on his body.”

Police Statement

Police spokesperson Captain Sandra Janse van Rensburg said his body was discovered at North End Lake in Sydenham , a suburb in the northern part of Gqeberha.

“Police received information about a human body floating in the lake at Milner Avenue at approximately 11.45 am.”

“The SAPS Divers Unit assisted and successfully retrieved the body from the lake.”

The cause of death was determined to be drowning. An inquest docket has been opened.

The Mother’s Pain

“I can’t even explain how I feel,” she said, breaking into sobs. “I sent him off to university, and now he’s gone. My child is dead.”

She remembered Lathitha as a fun and outgoing young man.

“My son was very eager for school and happy to get into university. He was doing a diploma in economics. He was a bubbly child. He loved to sing, to laugh, to play. He was always full of life.”

The Financial Burden

Now, she faces the daunting task of bringing his body home to Mthatha.

“I don’t have enough money to bury him. I have to go home and ask for… I don’t know what. I need money to bury my son because I don’t have any. I can’t do this on my own.”

She has a funeral policy with AVBOB, but it is still new and she hasn’t yet completed the waiting period. His death being unnatural complicates the claim.

The Bottom Line

An 18-year-old student. A mother 520km away. A lake in Gqeberha. A fisherman’s discovery. A positive identification. A drowning.

And a mother who must now beg for the money to bring her son home.

{Source: IOL}

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