People of Mpumalanga area in South Africa have been left in shock after a body of a 62-year-old woman who disappeared a week before Christmas was found in decomposed state in her husband`s house.

Thandiwe Ndlovu`s disappearance prompted neighbors to keep questing his husband Inyanga who used to reply that his wife had gone to the mountain to pray.

But after some days, neighbors started to suspect something when they noticed a smell around the woman`s compound.

According to one of the neighbors identified as Maria Masombuka, the terrible smell was noticed last Sunday but she couldn’t determine from which direction it came from.

“At first we thought a donkey or dog may have died somewhere but as days went by the smell became unbearable,” she told Daily Sun.

“On Wednesday we gathered as neighbours to discuss the disturbing smell. We all suspected it came from the shack where Thandiwe lived with her husband.

“We called the cops. They arrived and went to check in the shack and found Thandiwe’s body on the floor, already badly decomposed,” she said.

Also testifying on the matter, another neighbor by the name Egnes Mabhande said she last saw the now deceased Thandiwe a week before people took to celebrate Christmas.

“We knew she was back from work for the holidays and she was not sick. We only saw her once and never again. We did not even see her walking in the yard.

“Her husband is not on good terms with people in this street. We are scared and want him to leave after the funeral.”

Thandiwe’s younger sister, Nomvula Madela said her sister had been married to her husband (68) for more than 25 years.

“We tried to ask our brother-in-law what happened but he didn’t give us any answers. It’s as if he’s lost his mind,” she said.

Meanwhile, police around the area said they had open a further investigation to the matter in order to reveal what caused Thandiwe`s death.