Durban – For almost 20 seconds Mandisa Mkhize stood and stared deeply into the grave of her husband, footballer Senzo Meyiwa, before releasing the sand clutched in her hand.
As she wept and said her final goodbye on Saturday, she appeared a broken woman after enduring months of embarrassment by her high school sweetheart after Senzo’s extra-marital affair with popstar Kelly Khumalo.
To add insult to injury, the Bafana Bafana captain was shot at Khumalo’s mothers home in Vosloorus, Gauteng, when gunmen allegedly demanding money and cellphones shot him dead through the back.
But Khumalo herself was dealt an embarrassing blow in the week leading up to the footballer’s funeral, with Meyiwa’s father, Sam, publicly banning her from the funeral, claiming lies, showing-off, deceit and failing to call the family to explain what had happened that fatal night last Sunday.
Tears were aplenty at the funeral, with many visuals shown on screen during the service. But the roar of the vuvuzelas that swept through the stadium at regular intervals also signalled celebration for the life of the fallen star, sounds he heard week in and week out throughout his career.
But the vuvuzela roars were notably reserved for the entrance and final exit of Meyiwa’s coffin.
It was accompanied by a police brass band.
His coffin was positioned where the goalposts would normally be at the stadium – the place the footballer spent much of his playing career keeping goals for the Buccaneers and later Bafana Bafana.
Orlando Pirates legend and founder of Kaizer Chiefs FC, Kaizer Motaung, told mourners at the Moses Mabhida Stadium that he was an advocate for a gun-free society, adding to earlier calls for the country’s gun laws to be reconsidered.
KwaZulu-Natal Premier Senzo Mchunu, whose request for an official provincial funeral was granted by President Jacob Zuma on Friday, announced that a football academy would be opened and named in Senzo’s memory.
“The whole of South Africa feels great grief as we say goodbye to this hero who is resting in front of us… he represented the hope and future of our nation.
“Who is this person that killed Senzo – why did you kill Senzo?” he asked.
“His killers will rot in jail when they have been found. It is in the hands of the living that can close the eyes of the dead,” Mchunu said.
Senzo’s sister, Nomalanga, said they would forever be grateful for the love and support that they received.
She said Senzo was “everything to us as a family” and that it became clear he was a hero to all in South Africa.
“We are still in shock, he played a big role and yesterday when I was speaking to mother I told her ‘mom, can you see you have given birth to a hero … ’.
“Senzo loved people that were progressive; his death comes at a time when he was starting to go forward with his career.
“You will always be in our hearts, we will forever remember you – Mr Ever Smile. You promised us as captain to win at Morocco (African Cup of Nations 2015), it must remain that way,” she said.
At the Chesterville Heroes Acre cemetery, where he was laid to rest next to anti-apartheid journalist Nat Nakasa, Meyiwa’s father paid his final respects and wished his son away with an Orlando Pirates skull and crossbones salute.
Relatives of the Meyiwa family prepared the grave and laid tree branches on top of the coffin before draping it with the skin of the cow slaughtered in his honour.
Relatives chanted a brief tribute to Meyiwa, calling out his clan names before heaps of sand descended onto the coffin.
The country’s flag draped on his coffin was handed to his father by policemen.
In a short video played at the stadium of some of the footballer’s extraordinary performances, the late Bafana Bafana captain, with a huge smile on his face, said: “It means a lot to me after long time waiting to play for the national team, made me believe that I’m also a good goalkeeper.”
Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula called for criminals to be put “in their place” and the killers brought to book.
“We are not scared of these criminals,” Mbalula declared.
Daily News