Rundu police suspend search for drowned man

The Rundu police have suspended the search for the body of 31-year-old Joseph Tjiwawa, who drowned late last year in the Okavango River.

Tjiwawa drowned around 14:00 on 30 December 2016 at Rundu Beach. According to the police he was intoxicated.

Two of his male friends who threw him into the river were charged with murder.

“He has not yet been found…. we suspended it now, we conducted searches for nearly 10 days but nothing,” Deputy Commissioner Willie Bampton said yesterday.

Speculation is that a crocodile might have eaten the body.

Bampton explained that if the body was still in the water it should have surfaced within three days but that did not happen.

The suspects, Mureni Thomas Musore (24) and Toloshi Jonas Kambinda (32) appeared in the Rundu Magistrate's Court on 3 January on a murder charge.

They were not granted bail and the case was postponed to 6 March.

Rundu residents have suggested that the town council should employ lifeguards at the riverfront. Attempts to get comment from the council were unsuccessful yesterday.

According to past media reports the town council had planned to include the recruitment of lifeguards in its latest five-year strategic plan, but it wasn't done.

KENYA KAMBOWE