Man drowns in bathtub

A 58 year old man from Bulawayo’s Pelandaba suburb reportedly drowned in a bath tub after waking up at night to do laundry after reading a fake water shedding message on social media.

John Siwela who stayed with his two daughters was doing laundry around 2AM last Thursday while his daughters were sleeping.

He allegedly saw a fake message purportedly from the Bulawayo City Council, that residents would go without water for more than three days.

Siwela allegedly fell into the bath tub while he was washing and was discovered the next morning.

Acting Bulawayo provincial police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube confirmed the incident saying police are carrying out some investigations.

“I can confirm that we are investigating a sudden death case involving a 58-year-old man from Pelandaba. He was found dead in his tub at home and it is alleged that he drowned while doing laundry,” said Insp Ncube.

The Siwela family could not be reached for comment but a neighbour said Siwela was epileptic.

“We read message circulating on WhatsApp last week about proposed water shedding which was going to affect us for more than three days,” said the neighbour.

“Our neighbour being hard working and a single parent decided that he would do the family laundry early morning before the water shedding.”

According to his neighbour Siwela may have had an epileptic attack while his children were sleeping.

“He woke up to wash their clothes and we strongly suspect that he had an attack and there was no one to help him. He then fell headlong into the tub and drowned,” she added.

“One of our neighbours spotted him a few hours later and by then he was already dead and a police report was made,” she said. The Chronicle