In Memoriam - Kennth Smith - Open Water champion

Anton Kleynhans, Charl Maritz, Keri-Lynn Krause, Ancheri Luus, Kenneth Smith (the late), Taryn Jane, Taryn McGuire

Letaba District Swimmers Unicorn Primary School, Tzaneen

Garreth Smith, Andrew Noel, Lauren Drake, James Gutsche, Neil Nel, Earl Devereux-Quike, Taryn Jane, Taryn McGuire, Georgina Smit, Kenneth Smith (the late), Ross Truesdale

1999 Parktown Boys Sportman of the Year

Slain swimmer 'touched lives'
18/04/2007

Johannesburg - Slain South African swimmer Kenneth Smith was a well-mannered, humble and courageous person.

This was the opinion of most who spoke about Smith at his memorial service in Johannesburg on Wednesday.

"He just touched lives, he was a young man of extreme courage, seriously competitive and humble," said Easlyn Young, manager of the Learn to Swim programme in South Africa.

She told mourners at Parktown Boys High School hall that she would always remember Smith as a person "who reached one's heart as he extended his hand, always with a warm greeting".

She said Smith always spoke more about his family than his work and was respected and admired by his peers.

The service for the 26-year-old swimmer, whose body was found in a plastic bag on the outskirts of Peshawar in Pakistan on April 8, lasted about an hour.

About 150 people - friends, relatives and colleagues - attended.

Oustanding athlete, artist

Many of them, with tears in their eyes, looked silently ahead during the service.

Andrew van Zyl, head boy of Parktown Boys High in 1999 - the year Smith matriculated - said he remembered Smith as an outstanding athlete and an artist.

"It was in these art classes when I first got to know Smith.

"I remember the amount of food he would consume. Till this day, I don't know where he put it," Van Zyl said, managing to make everyone laugh.

Smith's father Neville Smith - who refused to speak to the media on Wednesday - said last week: "While there has been much negative speculations as to the reasons and cause of death, according to official sources it is suspected that he was poisoned."

He said tissue samples had been forwarded to Karachi for forensic analysis to confirm the nature of poisoning.

"Once the findings are available the family will release a further statement," he said.

Smith's family learned of his death through a news website that carried a report on a man, thought to be from Durban, who had been killed in northern Pakistan. He was carrying a passport with Smith's name.

The article indicated that the local police suspected foul play.

Badly beaten up

Smith told the Star that he had identified his son's body through photographs supplied by the department of foreign affairs on April 9.

"He was very badly beaten up and authorities strongly suspect that he died of a brain haemorrhage...

"It was clear on the images that his face was swollen," he reportedly said.

Smith, who devoted 18 years of his life to swimming, was South Africa's most-successful and most-capped open-water swimming athlete.

Mysterious death of SA swimmer

Erika Gibson

Durban - The South African man murdered in Pakistan has been identified as Kenneth Smith, 26, the country's 10km open water swimming champion.

His name was initially given by Pakistani police as Kenneth Scott Andrew of Durban when his body was found in a suburb of the frontier town of Peshawar on Sunday.

Until they were contacted about his death, Smith's family were not even aware that he was in Pakistan. He had said he was going to Dubai to look for a job.

His body was found in the Babu Garhi area, about seven kilometres northwest of Peshawar.

It was stuffed in a plastic bag - of a type used by farmers - and he had been shot in the back of the head. It was not clear if Smith was murdered where he was found or simply dumped there.

Dangerous area

Mahmood Afridi, the editor of Peshawar newspaper the Frontier Post, said Babu Garhi is a seedy area where several criminal gangs are active.

"It is dangerous - particularly for a foreigner and especially at night. If he had a lot of money with him or an expensive watch, he could have been robbed," he said.

Afridi said the police released a picture of Smith's body in a bid to get more information. Aside from the gunshot wound to the back of his head, Smith's body also had bruises on the chest and cheek, which seem to have been inflicted with a blunt object, he said.

Smith's passport was in his trouser pocket. According to that, he arrived at the airport in Peshawar on January 22. The town is on the border with Afghanistan. No other belongings were found on Smith.

Afridi said some residents of Babu Garhi claim to have seen Smith in the company of about six Pakistanis, but they did not know what he was doing there.

Smith's father, Neville Smith, said his son left South Africa on January 21. Shortly after that, the family became concerned when they did not hear from him, and his brother, Gareth, reported him missing at the police station in Randburg.

Kenneth contacted them to say he was not missing and they should withdraw the case. Two weeks ago he sent an SMS to a family member saying he was in Europe.

Smith was the SA 10km open water swimming champion for three years, and before that was the five kilometre champion for five years.

Neville Smith said that in December, Kenneth had to decide if he would have an operation on an injured shoulder or take time off to let the injury heal. "Kenneth decided to take time off, and he was going to Dubai to see if he could get involved in swim coaching."

"I am going to fly to Pakistan tomorrow [Wednesday] to try and find out the truth from the police. I don't have a clue what my child was doing there," he said.

South African officials were en route to Peshawar on Monday to help, a spokesperson in Pretoria said.

"It will cost $5 300 to bring his body home from Pakistan. There are no cremation facilities in Peshawar," his father said. "It's also right that he should come home to South Africa." A memorial service was planned for Parktown Boys High where Kenneth matriculated in 1999.

"Kenneth was an extrovert, who lived his live to the fullest," his father added said. "He was sometimes full of nonsense, but that only made him more competitive."

Smith, who swam for the University of Pretoria since 2005, is survived by his father, mother Marilyn, his older brother and two younger half-brothers.

- Beeld

1999 Midmar MileTerrence Parkin, Rob Mckay, Kenneth Smith (the late), Michael Fitchie (UK)

Ken with Mandy Loots and Dean Price

SA Championships - East London - 2005

Ken with legend Alex Popov

Africa Championships, Cairo 2002 - Candice Crafford, Theo Verster, Kenneth Smith, Ziada Jardin, Neil Versfeld, Raaizik Nordien, Gerhard Zandberg, Lyndon Ferns, Louis Lotter