07 May 2019

Cubicle one, bed six in the male ward at Ghanzi Primary Hospital has turned out to be the principal residence of a certain heavily bearded man, whose personal particulars remain a mystery and yet he is neither bedridden nor a patient.

Not even a single individual knows his name, his age, his origin and getting information from this man seems mission impossible for the reason that it is said that he only uses ‘informal’ sign language which is limited.

Equally, the personnel of Ghanzi Primary Hospital, which has lodged him for many years, cannot outline his personal details, even the police have no idea about his details.

This unknown man, who landed at the hospital in 2008 under police escort, has earned the name African man, just because he is dark skinned.

“He was first seen straying along the main road near D’Kar by community members who informed the police and the police brought him to the hospital,” Ghanzi Primary Hospital superintendent, Dr Biyangidi Finini narrated in an interview.

Dr Finini said the man was later referred to Sbrana Psychiatric Hospital in Lobatse for assessment and was found not to be a psychiatric patient.

While he was at Sbrana, he was sent to Bamalete Lutheran Hospital where it was discovered that he had bilateral hearing loss.

Sometimes between 2012 and 2013 he was discharged from Sbrana and the police escorted him back to Ghanzi Primary Hospital.

 “Ghanzi police brought him here to keep him for humanitarian reasons while they try to assist him to find his family members or for his family members to identify him,” said Dr Finini.

“There are a lot of meetings held about him, about where to place him, but no conclusion is reached,” Dr Finini indicated.

He said when the suggestion to send him to Dukwe came up, the immigration department was against the decision on grounds that there were no bases to declare him a refuge, saying there was a possibility that he might be a Botswana citizen.

So far three families, one from as far as Kasane, Palapye and Ramotswa had come to check whether he was their family member, but had not been linked to any.

“The person who came from around Ramotswa area looked like him and DNA was conducted but did not collide,” Dr Finini said, adding that Interpol was used to no avail.

He stated that the district commissioner had recently assigned them to look for someone who could communicate with him.

“We are planning to engage the Botswana Society for the Deaf at our expenses, and currently we are waiting for their quotation,” Dr Finini said.

He said the district commissioner had assigned the Social and Community Development (S&CD) office to find accommodation for the man in the village.

“Right now he is not in the right place, this issue is always raised in different platforms, the community know about this man and go to the council and district commissioner offices to complain that he is not in the right place,” he conceded.

He regretted that the man had previously assaulted a visitor and health worker.

Patients in his ward can no longer enjoy the edutainment from television sets.

“He does not want TV so we removed the TV sets in the ward,” Dr Finini revealed.

Nonetheless, he said the man was at times helpful as he assisted them when shifting equipment, and when there was a patient struggling in the ward he would warn officials.

“Our hospital is a 96-bed facility but occupancy rate is between 65 to 85,” said Dr Finini  when responding to the question that does hosting the man had an  impact on  the number of admitted patients at the hospital.

He estimated that the man was between 30-40 years, above 75 kg and 1.65 metres high.

He spents most time sleeping thereby gaining weight.

A nurse in charge of the male ward, Ms Shomanah Kedireng, who first saw the man on TV in 2010 and later met him personally when she   was transferred from Letsholathebe Memorial Hospital to Ghanzi hospital said meeting the man for the first time was an easy thing. “I was not afraid of him. A person cannot scare you when you meet him/her for the first time unless he/she has something scaring,” she said.

Ms Kedireng described him as a reserved person but unfriendly despite the fact that he tried to interact with people.

“Though he is unfriendly we understand him even though there is a communication barrier, as he only uses sign language,” she stated.
 

She further stated that he was not open to anyone and regarded people as strangers, adding that he became suspicious whenever there was a crowd.

Ms Kedireng said the man had the tendency of waking up in the middle of night and walking around the ward and the hospital.

He hates lights at night and as such switches off lights in the ward at night.

In terms of hygiene, he fares fairly, she said.

If one could try to access his documents at the hospital using African man name, one might not get any information about him because he has an official name; Shieru Siane.

“Shieru Siane is a name he was given at the psychiatric hospital for identification, so the name is now used as his official name,” Ms Kedireng stated.

Public perceptions about the man vary, some believe that he was a spy agent who would one day give a lecture on how spy agents work, while some say he was an illegal immigrant who was hired illegally in farms and his employer dumped him on the road. ENDS