Beverley the mannequin in her dam on the Doornberg Farm Road near the Karoo town of Nieu-Bethesda, Eastern Cape. (Photo: Mandy Roets) 
Two years ago, Nieu-Bethesda artist Ryno Greeff saw a mannequin in a secondhand shop, bought it and brought her home, dressed her in a one-piece swimming costume and drove her to the farm Doornkop near the town, where he placed her in a dam.
“Beverley’s dam is one of the most beautiful farm dams in the Karoo,” he said. For the past two years, she has been noticed in her dam on the way to Greeff’s well-known stone-art installation, the Stonefolk of Ongeluks Sloot. “She soon had a life of her own in that dam. People would drive there, stop and get into the dam with her. They liked swimming with her,” Greeff said.
Over the next few months, the quirky art installation named Beverley became a legend. Two weeks ago, the farmer in whose dam she was living thought she needed a spruce-up for summer and bought her a brand new orange bikini to replace the white one-piece she had been wearing. The town posted about it on Facebook.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Beverley1.jpg "Beverley in her new bikini. (Photo: Mandy Roets)")
On Sunday, 9 November, Beverley disappeared without a trace from her little farm dam. “First, we thought she might have drowned,” Juliette Illingworth from Nieu-Bethesda Tourism said. “But someone drove out there and searched the dam. She is no longer in her dam.”
“We have reports of people who last saw her on Saturday afternoon,” Illingworth said. “People love Beverley, and many come here for her. She stole everyone’s hearts,” Illingworth said. “People like to swim with her and take pictures.”
Greeff, who was out of town, received the news only on Sunday.
Over the past weekend, the town was busy as visitors came for the annual garlic festival. But on Sunday, reports started to trickle in that Beverley had disappeared.
Illingworth said that while cameras monitored the roads, there wasn’t a camera in that specific area.
“We just want her back. Please send her back to us or just drop her off in town,” she said. “The whole town is very upset. We are very fond of Beverley. People are not only coming to Nieu-Bethesda to see the Owl House, they also come here for Beverley.
“Tourism keeps this town going and Beverley is part of the package that we offer,” she said. “It is really terrible. A few years ago, someone stole vintage signs, and now this time it was Beverley,” Illingworth said.
“If anyone has seen Beverly or knows where she might be, please send a message or contact Nieu-Bethesda Tourism on 082 820 1166.” DM