Criminal praised at funeral
IT’S not over yet. That was the promise by friends at the Mthatha funeral of notorious cash-in-transit heist kingpin Sakhumzi Mvoko, 30, who formed a guard of honour around his white and gold casket.
About 1 000 people, including children, gathered at the Mbuqe Extension cemetery for the funeral of the man gunned down outside the Mthatha High Court during a deadly escape attempt.
“We will pick your spear up where you fell and carry your legacy on. Those [police] who think they have taken you out are blowing hot air. It was your day and you will prepare the road ahead for us,” said one of the mourners.
The funeral was more of a celebration of a “hero” whose life was cut short by an “insatiable appetite” for money. Designer clothing was the order of the day and expensive champagne and whisky was poured onto cars or drunk.
Mourners earlier abandoned the funeral proceedings to watch a convoy of Golf GTIs, Audi A5s and BMWs rev their engines and spin “doughnuts” on the dusty streets.
Mvoko was killed along with his co-accused Yandisa Bila, 32, during a shoot-out with police and department of correctional services officers on Wednesday last week.
At the time of their deaths, both men were serving time at the Kokstad C-Max prison for robbery, murder and other related crimes.
The shooting started after Bila retrieved a gun planted in a dustbin outside the court.
As his coffin was lowered into the ground, a large crowd, including children, whistled and ululated as cars spun nearby and gunshots were fired into the air. Mvoko’s uncle, Sandile Madikizela, said the vehicle spinning and burning of rubber was a “message” which the family had “received and accepted properly”.
A few hands were heard clapping when Madikizela said Mvoko was excellent at evading police capture. But he didn’t blame police for his nephew’s death.
“His mother prayed daily for her son to change his ways,” he said.
The family was sorry for the victims