High school sweethearts shot dead

The horrific screams of a Durban policewoman shouting for help were the last words a traumatised mother heard from her daughter.

A love triangle or botched hijacking are suspected to be behind the deaths of heavily pregnant Constable Noluthando Zakwe, 25, and her lover S’bahle Buthelezi, 24.

Zakwe worked at the Durban Habour police station while Buthelezi was a data typist at the Greenwood Park police station. They were shot dead a few metres away from Zakwe’s home in Avoca Hills on Wednesday evening. Zakwe was about seven months pregnant with her first child. Buthelezi has a three-year-old son.

The couple,from Avoca Hills, were high school sweethearts who were set to marry in November. In June, Zakwe and Buthelezi’s families would have held the umbondo ceremony, where the bridal family symbolically thank the groom’s family for paying lobolo with traditional gifts. This is the final stage in the preparation of the wedding.

Police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Vincent Mdunge said the two were sitting in Zakwe’s car when they were killed. He said three menwith handguns shot Zakwe in the back and Buthelezi in the head and chest.

“It would appear that it was three men. We suspect that they used handguns. The motive isn’t clear at this stage. It could have been a love triangle or hijacking. Nothing was taken from them or the vehicle,” said Mdunge.

Reliving the horrific night, Zakwe’s family however said the two were shot outside the vehicle.

Zakwe’s aunt S’bo Jwara said: “Noluthando came home from work at around 6pm. She changed her clothes and went outside where her fiancé was waiting for her,” she said.

“Moments later, Noluthando’s mother heard gunshots and her daughter screaming for her help. She ran outside and found Noluthando and S’bahle lying dead on the ground. She’s traumatised, she can’t eat or talk. She hasn’t slept since last night,” she said.

Jwara said the foetus did not survive. “Noluthando would have given birth in June. She was very excited about the birth and wedding. She always had a smile on her face and had a good heart. If we could, we would turn back time and take everything that happened last night (Wednesday) back,” Jwara said.

She urged people with information about the murders to come forward and help police in making arrests.

Buthelezi’s mother, Connie, was also hard hit by the tragedy which claimed her only child. “This has really affected me. I have this constant feeling that I’ll see him again. But Noluthando’s mother is especially affected because she heard everything (the murder). She (Noluthando) was the breadwinner at home,” said Buthelezi.

She said her son loved people and described him as a committed family man.

Mdunge said the Durban Organised Crime Unit is investigating the case