Family of missing Lebo Mniki call for DNA tests to be expedited on body they suspect to be their son's
Jabulile Mbatha
8 October 2025 | 10:40Lebo Mniki was reported missing on 29 August this year.
The family of a missing Johannesburg man is calling on health officials to expedite DNA tests on a body they suspect may be their son.
Lebo Mniki was reported missing on 29 August this year.
He had visited his girlfriend on the day, at a student residence in Midrand and was not seen leaving the premises.
Police searched the premises after he was reported missing and he still could not be found.
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In September, police in Mogogelo in the North West discovered the charred remains of a man in a ditch.
Mniki’s family said that since his disappearance, they had searched mortuaries and hospitals but haven’t had any luck.
His mother, Nonthuthuzelo Mniki, said that in September, police asked her for a DNA sample.
Then on 10 September, she said that she received a call from the police saying that a male body was found in a ditch.
The officers also sent her a picture of the naked body of a man, laying face down, whose body had been burnt. She said that she was called for a second DNA test.
"My DNA was taken at Pretoria forensic pathology and after a conversation I had with the station commander, he promised that he will ask for that test to be put as a priority."
Mniki said that she thought by now she would have received feedback.
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