Tinana Ntimane found after missing in hospital

The body of a woman who was reported missing from her hospital bed earlier this month has been found.

A 51-year-old woman who went missing from Tonga Hospital in Mpumalanga was found dead near the hospital’s sewerage area.

Lowvelder reports that Judith Tinana Ntimane was last seen on Tuesday, May 13, at around 10:00.

Hospital staff, security and police immediately launched a search, checking all the wards and surrounding areas, but they could not find her.

Yesterday, at around 12:00, Ntimane’s body was discovered during a debushing project started the previous day by the police and the community policing forum..

The bushes near the hospital’s sewerage area were being cleared when her decomposed body was found. All relevant authorities were called to the scene.

Her sister later confirmed her identity.

According to provincial police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Jabu Ndubane, the circumstances surrounding her death will be part of the ongoing investigation.

Acting provincial police commissioner Major General Dr Zeph Mkhwanazi offered his condolences to the family and praised the teamwork that led to the discovery.

This is not the first time a patient has died outside a hospital in Mpumalanga.

In July 2024, the body of Lazarus Mathabele (57) was found outside Matikwane Hospital in Mkhuhlu, where he had been admitted the previous month.

Early on the morning of July 24, members of the community on their way to work found his body behind the hospital. He was also wearing a hospital gown.

Nurses arrived and allegedly tried to move the body back into the hospital to make it appear he had died inside the ward.

His family has still not received an explanation about how he left his bed and ended up dead outside the premises. Neither hospital staff nor security could account for what happened.

His widow, Filizard Mathebula, says the family was deeply shocked and left without answers.

Their son Jabulani says Mathabele, a farmworker in Hazyview, was the family’s breadwinner and is survived by his wife and seven children.