Emotionally charged service for slain cop
Colleague too devastated by murder to address fellow mourners
‘ She loved to call everyone Nana [baby] or Maroro [my love] as a way of showing kindness
DEVASTATED Port Elizabeth police sergeant Anele France stood mute, unable to utter a word when he tried to address a packed and emotionally charged memorial service for his slain colleague yesterday.
A highly distressed France, who lost an eye in the shooting that claimed the life of Constable Caroline Mjandana – just hours before she was due to go on leave – left the podium and walked out of the church, but returned about 30 minutes later.
The service for Mjandana, 38, who had been France’s partner at work for 11 years, was held at the Dutch Reformed Church in North End. About 200 people attended. Mjandana, the mother of a fouryear-old boy, was shot dead next to France, 43, in their police vehicle as they attended to a robbery.
They had come under fire when they responded to an alarm at PE Ice Cream in Sydenham at 11pm on Thursday last week.
After the service, France said he had not yet found a way to move past the trauma of the shooting and losing Mjandana.
“I am OK. I am hurting, but I am trying to move on,” he said.
“I don’t know how I will go on, but it is all part of a process.”
France and Mjandana had been partners since 2006.
France said Mjandana had loved to joke around and had been an absolute pleasure to work with.
“She loved to call everyone Nana [baby] or Maroro [my love] as a way of showing kindness,” he said.
Mjandana’s sisters – Noxolo, 42, and Zanele, 37, both also policewomen – clung to each other as speaker after speaker described their sister as kind, bubbly and disciplined.
Their younger sister, Nobesuthu, 27, comforted their mother, Nomphumelelo.
In her address at the memorial, Noxolo said the family had not been the same since Mjandana’s death.
“This is not easy for us, especially because I thought that those younger than me would speak about me at my funeral, yet here we are today,” she said.
Noxolo said the family was struggling to get Mjandana’s little son, Sihlangule, to comprehend what had happened.
“Hlahla [Sihlangule] doesn’t even understand what is happening,” she said. “He was excited that we were coming to his mother’s service and asked when she would be coming back home.”
Mjandana had planned to travel home to King William’s Town on Friday last week.
“When someone goes to work, you expect them to come back home,” Noxolo said.
“We were expecting her on Friday but instead we received this news. This has
broken us. We have not been the same ever since.”
Mjandana’s colleagues, who sang songs in her memory, described her as a bubbly yet motherly colleague and a disciplined police officer.
Mount Road station commander Brigadier Neil Jantjies said: “It is difficult for me, as a father, to stand here today.
“I have attended a lot of funerals of members who were killed in the line of duty, but when a female constable is killed it is more difficult.
“It is not easy to say goodbye to a such a wonderful person as Constable Mjandana.
“The SAPS is grateful to God for the almost 12 years [she served] and we thank her family for influencing her to join the police.
“I have never lost a child but, being here with the grieving family, I can feel and sense what it feels like.”
Warrant Officer Eugene Coetzee said yesterday was a dark day for all those who had worked with Mjandana. “We have lost a dear friend,” he said. “In a war against evil, there will always be casualties.”
Mjandana’s supervisor, Colonel Zukiswa Bodlani, said Mjandana had been disciplined in her work.
“Discipline is the most important thing in police work,” Bodlani said.
“She was a very warm person. The Mjandana family has lost a daughter and an asset.
“The force and the community have also lost an asset.”
Bodlani said Mjandana had been one of the people who ensured that the Mount Road charge office functioned properly.
“Mjandana was always respectful and she was a master [in] the charge office – she was one of the pillars on that shift.
“With her gone, I don’t know what will happen to that shift.”
On Wednesday, the sheriff of Port Elizabeth North, Llewellyn Sharp, posted a private reward of R10 000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the gunmen.
Mjandana’s funeral will be held in Dimbaza Township in King William’s Town tomorrow.