Missing man found – then lost again
Frail man runs away after being taken to police
THE mentally frail man who vanished without trace after he was allegedly forgotten at the Provincial Hospital by a Department of Health patient transport driver, has been found – only to disappear again.
Wandile Nyanya, 55, from Port Alfred, had been taken to the Kwazakhele police station by a woman living nearby, but ran off when police phoned the investigating officer in the case to tell them he had been found.
Nyanya got onto the patient transport bus in Port Alfred on December 11 and was dropped off at Provincial Hospital in Port Elizabeth for a doctor’s appointment.
Nyanya, however, did not make it to his appointment or return home.
When his sister, Lisa Stanley, realised he had not returned home, she reported him missing at the Port Alfred police station.
The case was then transferred to the Mount Road police station in Port Elizabeth.
Stanley said she received a call from the Port Alfred police on Thursday saying they had been contacted by their colleagues in Kwazakhele.
“They said a man fitting my brother’s description was at the police station,” she said.
“He told them his name was Wandile Nyanya and he also knew our mother’s name.”
Stanley said she was told that the man had followed a woman who lives close to the police station, home.
“She took him to the SAPS,” she said.
But while the police officer was making the call to Port Alfred police, the man left the police station and disappeared.
“I am very happy to hear that he is still alive,” Stanley said.
“I just wish we could find him. I hope people will help us to look for him close to the Kwazakhele police station.
“He is mentally challenged and speaks very little.”
Police spokesman Captain Andre Beetge said Nyanya was taken to the Kwazakhele police station on Thursday night.
“He just walked into a woman’s house and asked her what she was doing in his house.
“She brought him to the police station,” he said.
He said the man identified himself as Nyanya and knew his address but did not know that he was in Port Elizabeth.
“While the officer was phoning the Port Alfred police station, he ran away,” Beetge said.
“The officers searched for him around the police station but could not find him. He did not look neglected.”
Anybody who knows Nyanya’s whereabouts has been asked to phone the Nemato police station on (046) 624-1238.