Zim man drowns in SA

By Thupeyo Muleya A 27-year-old Zimbabwean man drowned while fishing in South Africa’s Nandoni Dam near Thohoyandou in Limpopo Province. Anderson Muvuru from Masvingo is reported to have drowned while checking on his fishing nets in the early hours of last Thursday morning. Police in Thohoyandou have launched a search for his body. According to South African police statistics, Muvuru is the 29th person to drown in the dam since the beginning of this year. A senior police officer at Thohoyandou Police Station yesterday said: "Our search team is still positioned and we are yet to recover his body. "As police we are worried at the ever increasing rate at which people are drowning at this dam. "Since the beginning of the year we have recorded 29 cases of drowning including this one. "In this particular incident, preliminary investigations reveal that the victim left his home early in the morning and told his neighbours that he wanted to check on his nets in the dam. "He then went into the dam alone and during the process of checking his nets he drowned. "A report was later made by his friends after he failed to return after a whole day," the officer said. Muvuru’s friend and neighbour, Jonathan Chinamtera, was on Friday quoted by Limpopo’s weekly paper The Mirror as saying: "His disappearance is still a mystery to us. "He used to fish with others and never ventured into the water alone. No one will be able to explain what happened. "What we know is that he told us he was going fishing and we have not seen him since then." The incident comes a year after another Zimbabwean man drowned in the same dam after his homemade canoe capsized. People living near the dam have petitioned the South African government to tighten security around the area. Published by; The Herald, 6 July 2010 website; www.herald.co.zw