BULAWAYO – The body of a 43-year-old woman who drowned while attempting to cross a flooded Gwayi River has been found more than a week after she went missing.
Sichithekile Sibanda’s decomposed body was pulled from the water on Saturday after her church held an all-night prayer vigil where she was last seen by two boys heading cattle.
Sibanda, of Dombo village in Tsholotsho, is the fifth known person to have drowned in Gwayi River this year.
Tsholotsho Rural District Council chairman Councillor Esau Siwela said hopes were fading for the recovery of Sibanda’s body after the police sub aqua unit attended the scene but could not get into the fast flowing river, fearing that the volume of the water was dangerously high.
“Villagers have been searching for her the whole week. We even mobilised resources to transport search teams as far as 50km down the river from where she was last seen but she could not be located. The volume of water was just too much,” he said.
Siwela said members of Sibanda’s Zion Church then requested to have a night vigil near the spot where she was last seen.
“They held a church service throughout the night starting at 4PM on Friday. Through their prophets, they were able to locate where she was early on Saturday morning. Her body was in an advance state of decomposition and she was immediately buried,” he said.
The mother of seven had left her home for contract work tending to a neighbour’s fields. She was last seen by two boys herding cattle along the Gwayi River.
The two boys reportedly attempted a rescue while she was drowning, but were beaten back by the ferocity of the flooded river.
Meanwhile, Siwela said another body of a man washed off Gwayi River at Maphane village in an advance state of decomposition.
Two weeks ago, three boys drowned while swimming in the river which pours into the Zambezi River.
