Homeless man found dead in Joburg park

A homeless man was discovered dead by passers-by in central Johannesburg’s Joubert Park near the Rea Vaya bus station.

Johannesburg – A homeless man was discovered dead by passers-by in central Johannesburg’s Joubert Park near the Rea Vaya bus station on Friday morning.

A Rea Vaya commuter, Busisiwe Mbatha, who was on her way to catch a connecting taxi at MTN Noord taxi rank and was an eyewitness to the scene, said she found a group of people surrounding the dead man and not knowing what to do.

“I overhead one woman saying the guy is dead. I have always passed the man sleeping on the concrete pavement by the park every day on my way to work,” she said.

Mbatha proceeded to alert Johannesburg Metro police officers whom she met at the taxi rank.

Joburg metro police department spokesman Superintendent Wayne Minnaar confirmed the incident, saying: “I can confirm that our officers on patrol around Joubert Park were notified by a member of the public about a suspected dead person. When they went to investigate, they found that indeed an unknown male was dead. He appeared to be living on the streets. The cause of death will be investigated.”

After boarding a taxi to Morningside, Mbatha passed the scene after the police had arrived, took a photograph and posted it on Facebook.

She wrote: “Big up to the Metro cops that reacted promptly to my plea to assist a homeless guy that I was told is dead when I told them. I thought he was sleeping when I passed him. 10 minutes later, the cops were at the scene. May he rest in peace. This winter, let us give blankets to the homeless.”

African News Agency