Father travels from Zimbabwe to Winnipeg to search for missing 30-year-old son

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Family and friends of a 30-year-old man who has been missing for more than two months say they’re praying to find answers as they searched a south Winnipeg park alongside volunteers on Saturday.

Michael Masukume, 30, was last seen in the King’s Park area, near the University of Manitoba, on the morning of Feb. 8, police said in an alert after he went missing.

His father Thitho Masukume travelled from Zimbabwe to look for Michael — his only son — about a month ago. 

“It’s been hard for me since I came here,” Thitho said, adding he’s worried that he might not get any answers before he returns home to Zimbabwe. 

Michael Masukume is described as being five feet eight inches in height, of medium build with short black hair and brown eyes. (Winnipeg Police Service)

“I don’t know where he is, how he’s doing. Is he alive? Or is he dead? Or is he somewhere else?” he said. 

Michael’s friend Sanjana Tiwari, who has known him for more than a decade, said Michael came to Winnipeg to study food sciences and later worked for a professor at the University of Manitoba.

Tiwari said Michael is “one of the best friends that I’ve ever had here,” calling him a “very genuine” and private person. She said she was shocked when she heard he was missing and it’s “very painful” to not know what happened to him.

“I’m just hoping and pray that the search that we are doing today at King’s Park, some good results come out of it,” she said. 

A group of loved ones and volunteers searched for Michael Masukume near King’s Park in Winnipeg on Saturday, April 18, 2026. (Gavin Axelrod/CBC)

“There are a lot of people who are here who are looking out for the best for him. “

Simba Mazhara, who has been hosting Michael’s father Thitho at his home in Steinbach, says the community is coming together to hopefully find Michael before Thitho’s planned trip home on Sunday.

“Michael is a very, very valued individual by the family. Everybody is concerned about him,” he said. 

“[We are] hoping that he could be somewhere alive, but if not at least if there could be something definitive that would bring closure to the family and everybody around him.”

Winnipeg police told CBC News that officials have been in contact with Michael’s family and the service has efforts to find him.

Anyone with information about Michael Masukume’s whereabouts is encouraged to call Winnipeg police’s missing persons unit at 204-986-6250.