An employee of a known eatery reportedly received a lot of flak following the death of a man who suddenly fell ill while enjoying his meal.
The outlet is located not far away from one of the bus stations in the southern town of Nhlangano and the incident occurred about two weeks ago, where a contingent of public transport workers are said to have pounced on the traumatised staffer and demanded answers.
This was apparently after the marshals and conductors felt there was something odd about the death of the man who was a common figure around the station. The deceased was identified as Abdool Mngometulu of Zombodze Emuva, which is located in the outskirts of Nhlangano.
A witness reported that the victim met his death while in the process of warding off his hunger pangs with the assistance of a traditional snack prepared from a piece of bread and an avocado pear. He is said to have suddenly fell ill while in the process of eating. A witness said the man started sweating and foaming from the mouth, prompting the transport workers who were in the vicinity to arrange for transport to ferry him to hospital.
Reports reaching the Independent News indicated that the man was whisked to a nearby health facility, where care workers took the decision to transfer him to a superior facility after his condition did not show any signs of improvement. He succumbed to his illness while waiting to be attended by health personnel at the Hlatikulu Government Hospital shortly after arrival.
But the drama occurred afterwards as news of the victim’s death started filtering from the grapevine.
In a fiery of fury, a team of livid public transport operators is said to have ambushed a staff member of the eatery which they suspected to have provided parts of the snack which the victim had devoured with relish moments shortly before he suffered from the strange illness.
They were demanding answers.
The terrified staffer had a tough time trying to clear her name and that of the establishment, but the fuming marshals and conductors would hear none of it.
“It was scary. Some were thinking that his food might have been laced with a foreign substance because he had become problematic and always nagging in his demand for food, which had become a daily occurrence. I don’t know how they came to reach such a conclusion though,” lamented one of the people operating their businesses close to the bus station during an interview with the Independent News. He seemed to have been confounded by the reaction of the public transport workers and the manner in which they treated the eatery staffer.
The cause of death of the 29-year-old man who is reported to have at times struggled with his mental health remains a mystery to Nhlangano residents. While his former friends at the bus station have their own suspicions, the family of the victim suspect that something else may be to blame.
“We are not quite sure of what happened. There are no clear answers. We have heard about the suspicions of his friends, but we remain in the dark regarding what actually transpired. What we are certain of is that he died while awaiting treatment. The explanation we got was that he suddenly fell ill in the process of eating while seated next to his favourite smoking spot,” narrated Sibongile Mngometulu, a family member.
The man’s death has for the past two weeks remained in the lips of many around the southern town.
Even though some of the deceased’s friends who frequent the bus station have confided having been subjected to questions from curious police officers who heard about the strange circumstances of the man’s death, the fatality does not appear in the records of the Nhlangano police station.
This is according to Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati, who was responding to a query from the Independent News.
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