On October 26, Bafana Bafana and Orlando Pirates captain Senzo Meyiwa was shot and killed while visiting his Afro-pop singer girlfriend Kelly Khumalo at her mother’s home in Vosloorus; during what was believed to a robbery that went wrong.
After the shooting, Khumalo rushed the Bafana Bafana captain to a local hospital but Meyiwa died upon his arrival.
At the time of his death, the much loved soccer star was married to Mandisa Mkhize and also had an on and off affair with Khumalo.
Ordinary citizens took to social media platforms and criticised Khumalo for having an affair with a married man. But others came to Khumalo’s rescue and defended her saying Senzo chose her over Mkhize.
Following the news of Meyiwas’s killing, politicians and ordinary citizens took to social network sites to express their heartfelt condolences and shock over the sad news.
Local and international soccer stars took to Twitter and shared some of their fond memories with Meyiwa.
Meyiwa was given a provincial official funeral and was laid to rest in his home town of Umlazi, in KwaZulu-Natal.
During his funeral service Senzo’s father Sam Meyiwa became a hit on social media network Twitter after making an ‘usual thank you’ gesture.
While he was criticized by others for being an attention seeker, some came to his rescue and defended him.
Sam Meyiwa trended on Twitter with the hashtag #NotSenzosDad while on Instagram individuals uploaded pictures of themselves posing like Sam with the hashtag #Samfie.
Within a week of Meyiwa’s killing, Gauteng police released an identikit of two men believed to be suspects. Shortly thereafter a task team to investigate the murder made a big announcement about the arrest of a 23-year-old man Zanokuhle Mbatha.
After his arrest, Mbatha appeared briefly in court and was charged with the murder of the soccer star.
However, during his second appearance in the Boksburg Magistrate’s Court, Magistrate Daniel Thulare ruled that Mbatha should be released because of insufficient evidence.
This is despite police top brass reassuring the nation that they were 100% sure that Mbatha was behind Meyiwa’s murder. The surprise move angered most people. No one else has been arrested for the murder.
Police made have since made a R250 000 reward for information that could lead to positive arrests and conviction.
No one was arrested by December 22, 2014.
Meyiwa’s murder shocks the nation, by sabcnewsonline
– By Tshepiso Moche
