BULAWAYO – Highlanders chief executive officer Sihlangu Dlodlo was found dead at his Bulawayo home on Monday.
Friends said he was last seen alive on Saturday.
He was 60.
Police were called to the former Innscor marketing executive’s Nketa 9 home after friends and family broke down his gate and saw his lifeless body through a window.
A Facebook post he wrote on October 16 is now being read as a possible suicide note.
Dlodlo wrote in Ndebele: “A nice way to end the drama and nonsense that happens at funerals is to die alone at home and rot for a week or so until the neighbours see green flies by the windows; and the police arrive to recover your remains in a zinc coffin and open truck and take you, hopefully to Kings and Queens.
“That way there will be no body viewing. It’s straight to Luveve Cemetery. By the way, please don’t bring flowers sweethearts.”
Dlodlo was a consummate jester, and many did not think much of his post until his death – alone at home.
His final post on Facebook, just after 3PM local time on Saturday, read: “Ngiqinisile, ngiqinisile ngithi kini, uNkulunkulu kadakwa shem [Verily, verily I say unto you, God is never drunk. For real].”
Allan “Ripper” Mpofu, a friend, told reporters while fighting back tears: “It appears he passed on over the weekend. He was alone at his place. After the alarm was raised that he had gone missing, with the help of his relatives we had to force open the gate at his place to gain entry.
“After peeping through a window, I couldn’t believe it. I saw the lifeless body of my close friend. This is so disheartening, it’s really sad. We discovered this around 6:45PM.”
Mpofu said he could not speak further “because I have to respect his family.”
Dlodlo, remembered by friends and ex-workmates as an affable man, worked as a senior marketing executive for Innscor and Lobel’s.
He also had a stint as general manager of Kings and Queens Funeral Services before joining Highlanders in April this year as CEO.
In a September 2024 interview, he was asked by a reporter how he wanted to be remembered “when it’s said and done.”
“I want to be remembered as a fat ugly man who tried to do the best that he could in the time that he was given. In the bulk of my life I have tried to uplift people around me; I have tried to do things that have a positive impact on my society and I hope that the Lord will give me a bit more years so that I can continue doing this because when everything is said and done, we cannot be great unless the people around us achieve the greatness,” he answered.
Dlodlo’s wife and children live in the United Kingdom.
Police said they were investigating circumstances of his death. His body was taken to a local hospital for postmortem.
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