The family of the King Williams Town police officer Chunyiswa Zamani are deeply in mourning after she was found gruesomely murdered near Grahamstown a week ago.
The family of the King Williams Town police officer Chunyiswa Zamani are deeply in mourning after she was found gruesomely murdered near Grahamstown a week ago.
Chuma, as her family called her, was a victim of a botched hijacking. The 33-year-old mother of three was with a person in the car when she was hijacked, police reported. The other unidentified occupant managed to run away to call for help, leaving Zamani in the car.
She was found dead with gunshot wounds to her body later that day, a few feet away from her car, leaving behind three children aged thirteen, nine and four months old.
It is not yet known who the perpetrators were but it is speculated that the person responsible for her death was known to her. No arrests have been made.
Speaking to Grocott’s Mail from Zamani’s home in King Williams Town, Makroti Mgunculu, Zamani’s younger brother described her as a “cheerful person who liked to make other people laugh.
My sister was one of a kind, we have lost our beacon of hope,” said Mgunculu before taking a long pause. “She was the breadwinner at home, my mother relied on her support. She was my mother’s rock and confidante. We all loved her but now she is gone,” he added.
Mgunculu said Zamani was the sixth of nine children and was employed in a permanent position as a police constable in 2004. “My other siblings are living in Cape Town, she was the only one supporting my home with everything we needed. I used to call her whenever I needed financial assistance because I am still studying,” he said.
Zamani’s two older children are currently living with Mgunculu in the house she used to share with her husband Zwelinjani Zamani in King Williams Town. Her family is currently organising her funeral which will be held in Keiskammahoek on Saturday, 28 November.
