MORE fear has gripped the community living in proximity of the Silverglen Nature Reserve in Chatsworth, bordering a section of uMlazi, after yet another corpse was found at this once popular recreational facility on Saturday.
The discovery was made by two uMlazi men, who were part of the community policing forum, on patrol along a notorious pathway between Chatsworth and uMlazi, which has become a crime hotspot.
Saturday’s find was the sixth dead body found dumped at the reserve in 2025.
Enoch Mngwengwe, a CPF patroller told the Daily News about the body he stumbled upon while traversing a dense veld.
Mngwengwe said: “The horrifying sighting still haunts me since we found the lifeless body of an unknown man in the bush, which is near the dam at the nature reserve. This is not the first time I discovered a dead body at this location.”
He said the other occasion was early last year.
Safety concerns previously prompted Mngwengwe and his neighbours to establish a CPF in response to a surging crime rate that usually occurred in the vicinity of the pathway. He said they were aware of incidents of muggings and murders that occurred there.
The Daily News reported, last week, about a tortured and bound body with a gunshot wound to the head, that was found in the same vicinity.
Residents said discovery of the bodies, especially the recent ones has them living in fear.
The reserve is known to be 460 hectares in size with a dam. Previously, schools had children walking through nature trails in the reserve.
Ricky Naicker, a local resident, said those days were long gone and expressed concern about what the reserve had become.
“If the authorities do not intervene, more unknown people will be dumped in this nature reserve,” he warned.
Another community leader, Steven Naidu shared the same sentiments as Naicker, “What is worrying is that we don’t know where these people come from. It appears to us that the victims are murdered elsewhere and dumped here.”
He urged locals to unify their efforts with law enforcement to address the rising tide of violence gripping their community.
The latest crime statistics from the South African Police Services indicated that Chatsworth has one of the highest rates of serious crimes in the country, solidifying the need for immediate action.
DA Ward councillor Tony Govender has urged crime-fighting agencies to take decisive measures to restore safety in the area.
“The government must work towards ending what is happening near nature and revive it so that it would return to its former glory,” he said.
Govender added: “I believe that if we work together with the police, we will be able to put an end to this crisis. It is time for all of us to work together as concerned residents to end this worrying issue.”
Despite the local police, who were not authorised to speak to the Daily News, confirming the discovery of the latest dead body at the reserve, the SAPS provincial office did not responded to queries sent by this newspaper at the time of going to print.
A police officer not authorised to speak to the media, lamented: “It is difficult to investigate such cases because nobody comes forward to claim the body of a deceased in such instances.”
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