40-year-old mystery to solve
A REQUEST for help to solve a 40-yearold mystery was issued this week, asking if our readers can shed any light on the skeletal remains of a man found in the Welsh mountains in 1979.
Locate International (LI), a Uk-based organisation which investigates missing persons and unidentified bodies, said clues pointing to a South African connection were found with the man’s remains.
The remains were found on the mountainside near Resolven, South Wales, in the UK.
“He has not been identified and, therefore, family cannot be notified.
“The man is believed to have been born between the World Wars and was, therefore, aged between 40 and 60 at the time of his death. He was white with short grey hair, and of stocky build. He would have walked with a limp as his right leg was fused at the knee and he would not have been able to bend it,” said the organisation.
Clues with the man’s remains included some notes scribbled on an airline timetable, a bookmark and a Salvation Testament with the name D Malan written on the flyleaf.
LI said: “Although no return ticket was traced, he had British Airways timetables for 1978. On one were handwritten notes indicating that he was planning a return flight from London to Johannesburg and then an onward internal flight to Durban.
“He also had a Salvation Testament with the name ‘D Malan’ and the address PO Box Randburg, Johannesburg, South Africa on the flyleaf. Enquiries in the Randburg area have drawn a blank.
“A commemorative bookmark for a Christian mission conducted in King Williamstown by ‘Rhodes Varsity Trekkers’ which was held at Easter (April 9 -17) 1960 was also found.”
LI appealed to anyone who may remember a friend, colleague, neighbour or church member who went to the UK, specifically Wales, in 1978 or 1979 and who was never seen again.
Enquiries with Rhodes University indicated that only two people by the name of D Malan were registered at the university around that time: the first in 1964 (born December 22, 1946) and the second in 1966 (born on August 20, 1944). These dates do not correlate with a possible Christian mission to King Williamstown by 1960 Rhodes Varsity Trekkers. There was also no mention of Rhodes Varsity Trekkers in the university’s 1960 calendar, nor in the library archives.
Anyone with information can email satmail@inl.co.za or can email Locate International directly on investigations@locate.international