Family ask for strong swimmers to find body of mother

A YEAR after their 78-year-old mother mysteriously vanished from a house that had been locked, her children believe her body might be in the vlei near her home.

They are now calling for an extensive underwater search of the Flamingo Vlei in Table View using a device that can detect remains.

Nobandla Mbande Madzana disappeared on October 15, 2021. Police, members of the neighbourhood watch and forensic teams have searched for her using a helicopter and sniffer dogs.

Neighbours have also used their drones to search the area but this led to no fresh leads.

The family told Weekend Argus they had been left with more questions than answers after their mother vanished from a house that had been securely locked and was in the care of a woman who had been hired when she became ill.

Mbande Madzana contracted Covid-19 early last year.

A few months later, her health deteriorated and she was diagnosed with dementia.

Her daughters now firmly believe that Madzana wandered off into the vlei, which had reminded her of her rural hometown.

Her daughter, Sekiwe Mbande, had been working from home on the day her mother vanished. She said police had failed to question the person last seen with her.

Sekiwe was engaged in meetings and realised her mother was gone after she had wanted to prepare a meal.

“I had been in meetings and I had moved my office area to my bedroom because my mother was at an advanced stage with her dementia and we had someone looking after her,” she explained.

“I would usually close my bedroom door when I had back-to-back online meetings.

“That day, I decided I will make myself something to eat because I had not eaten breakfast and left the room for the kitchen.

“I asked the lady who looked after my mother if they had eaten and if I should also prepare them something to eat.

“She then asked me I had seen my mother.

“She said 15 minutes prior to that, they had been watching television.”

Sekiwe immediately began searching inside her home and later moved to the back yard and was puzzled. The doors were locked.

“My mother did not know how to open the locks,” she said.

“I searched inside the house and yard.”

She said they were not happy with the police’s search, claiming that it wasn’t thorough.

“The police had dogs which led them to a house on the vlei and an old woman lived there who they said was alone,” she explained.

She said that police had merely taken a statement from the carer and had not questioned her: “She was the last person who saw my mother and all the doors were locked.”

Madzana’s other daughter Abongile has reached out to missing persons organisations for help.

“We are appealing for a team of strong swimmers to assist us. How can we receive help?”

Candice van der Rheede from the Western Cape Missing Persons Unit said they were aware of the case: “We noted that the family believed that she might be in the vlei, under the water.”

Weekend Argus has approached police for comment but they did not respond to queries.