Local hawker disappears

The family of Ms Rumbidzai Mayere (34) are looking for her after she was last seen walking to town from Tshikota in Makhado a few weeks ago.

Mayere is a well-known Zimbabwean hawker at the local taxi ranks and streets where she sold boiled peanuts. According to her aunt, Ms Evelyn Munyanyiwa, Mayere was on her way to town, carrying a blue bucket containing peanuts, when she disappeared on 21 March in the morning.

The family have appealed to members of the community to help them trace their loved one. "We don't remember her telling us that she had problems," said Munyanyiwa. "We were on good speaking terms with her as a family, so we couldn't say she ran away from home."

The missing woman's family say that they are unable to connect her disappearance with the idea that she might have gone home to Masvingo in Zimbabwe. "She left her passport and medication behind," said her aunt.

Members of the family were completely distraught when they received news on the street about a decomposing body of a woman discovered in the bushes around Tshikota. Their fears were dispelled when they went to the police station to find out if the horrible discovery had anything to do with Mayere. "It was someone else's corpse," said a family member.

The spokesperson for the Makhado police, Capt Maano Sadiki, said that he could not establish whether a missing person's file has been opened or not, at the time of going to press.