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‘SHOT COP WANTED DIVORCE’

By Musa Simelane | 2024-09-28

Nomfundo Gracienda Dlamini, the police officer who was tragically shot and killed by her husband France Dlamini, also a law enforcement officer, had been seeking to end their marriage before meeting her untimely death.

They were already living apart; Nomfundo in Matsapha and France in Mbabane and there was a peace-binding order between them. Nomfundo (nee Sihlongomyane) was already engaged in the processes that would lead to divorce, as she had had enough of their tumultuous 13-year-old marriage.

The 36-year-old was adamant that she was not returning to her marriage, something which she had made it clear to her close relatives. Both families of the deceased had discussions many times to broker peace as a result of the marital challenges, but to no avail.

This is some of the information that emerged during a memorial service held in her honour and that of her husband at the Evangelical Church in Matsapha yesterday.

The aspect of separation was evident even in the display of the couple’s enlarged photos. France’s photo was placed at the far end and Nomfundo’s was at the opposite end. Even their final resting places will be separate; Nomfundo at Sigangeni and France at Ekupheleni.

“Angibuyeli le, ngisitwe nguNkulunkulu kutsi ngiphume (I am not going back there, God helped me to get out). This person threatens me with a gun and does anything he wants on me,” these are the words Nomfundo was quoted having said by her relative, Senzo Dlamini, who spoke on behalf of the Sihlongonyane family.

He said he lost count of how many times she reported her husband for the manner he treated her. It came to a point where she made up her mind that she would not stay in the marriage for fear that France would one day kill her.

The relative said if he was the supervisor of France in the police service, he would have ended up taking the gun away from him. It would have been better for him to be assigned menial jobs in the police service, like being a gateman.

“I am just saying this; otherwise there is nothing that can be done now. As the latter was fixing her papers for divorce, you could tell that she was very tired of this. She didn’t get some good night sleep unless she was at her parental home.

When she was not, she slept with one eye opened for fear of what might happen to her,” explained the relative.

He mentioned that on the very day she was killed, France came to the Mbabane Police Station, grabbed and forced her into a police van. His service pistol was on him.

He drove off speedily in the direction of their matrimonial home in Mpolonjeni, where he shot her and then turned the gun on himself. Someone, during the heat of the moment, had suggested that they should be followed immediately for fear that something worse might happen.

Nonetheless, the relative thanked everyone, including the Royal Eswatini Police Service, relatives and the public for their support in such a time.

He mentioned that Nomfundo’s family expressed their preference that their child be buried at her parental homestead instead of the Dlaminis.

“Nomfundo would have been greatly disappointed if we buried her at the home of the man who treated her in such a way,” he added.

Meanwhile, Lucky Tsela, who spoke on behalf of the Dlamini family (France’s), did not have many words to say except to offer a heartfelt apology to Nomfundo’s family.

As a police officer, Nomfundo was attached to the royal guard, while her husband was a driver in the security detail of Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini. The incident happened in the afternoon of last week Wednesday (September 18) while at their Mpolonjeni home in Mbabane. The couple leaves behind three children.

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