Boy who claimed he was enslaved by a black family found stoned to death in South African street
- Happy Sindane hit headlines in 2003 claiming to have been kidnapped
- He was found dead with stones nearby in the village of Tweefontein
By Helen Lawson
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Happy Sindane, pictured in 2003, has been found dead on a street, apparently stoned to death
A man who once claimed to be a white child enslaved by a black family has been found murdered, apparently stoned to death.
Happy Sindane was found dead yesterday in the village of Tweefontein, having been 'severely assaulted', said police.
No arrests have been made and there are said to be no known motives for the killing.
Spokesman Leonard Hlathi said: 'People who were passing by spotted a body that was lying on the streets at Tweefontein.
'There was stones found at the scene. It seemed as if he was stoned to death.'
In 2003, Sindane walked into a police station near Pretoria and claimed he had been kidnapped from a white family 12 years before and had been living in a black township.
Sindane, then 16, said he was abused and forced to live outdoors tending animals.
He put out an international appeal to find his real parents but a four-month enquiry that year established that Sindane's birth name was Abbey Mziyaye and that he was the son of a black domestic worker, Rina Mzayiya.
The court found his father was probably a white man, Henry Nick, who employed Mzayiya in 1983, the year of their son's birth.
His black family said they had taken in an unwanted child, left with them by his mother, and treated him as one of their own.
Sindane was hit by a minibus and a car after lying down in a road in 2004, reported SAPA. It was not known why he was in the road.
The same year, he appeared in front of magistrates in Pretoria after allegedly throwing stones to break a taxi window but the charges were later dropped.
Happy Sindane (left, in 2003 and right, at his home in Dark City, Mpumalanga in December 2007) claimed he had been kidnapped from a white family and had been living in a black township
Sindane was 16 when he said he had been kidnapped, abused and forced to live outdoors tending animals
According to IOL News, Sindane's cousin Thomas Kabini, who lived with him in the village of Tweefontein, said he was 'in good spirits and happy' the last time he spoke to him on Thursday.
He said: 'I went to identify his body. His head was badly hurt. The rest of his body seemed unharmed.'
He said no funeral arrangements have been made.
Jacqui Mofokeng, one of the trustees of the Happy Sindane Trust, which was set up with money from Dulux after they used his picture without permission, said Sindane was a 'troubled boy'.
The court found Sindane's father was probably a white man, Henry Nick, who employed his mother Rina Mzayiya in 1983, the year of their son's birth
She said she last spoke to him two years ago.
She said: 'At the time he was working at a car dealership in Benoni. I asked him to give me the details of the dealership and the owner assured me he would look after Happy.'
Mofokeng said most of Sindane's family had died and he was living with the relatives of his former foster mother Betty Sindane.
She said: 'Not knowing who you are and where you fit into society is not an easy task for anyone'.
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RIP Happy Sindane. This is very sad, poor boy... He needed a friend and someone to love him. Now he's not here anymore... it goes to show the type of world we live in. The world needs healing.
- Silver719 , Bronx, United States, 03/4/2013 10:09
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