Daughter’s moving tribute for father gunned down in churchyard
A 10-year-old daughter penned a moving tribute to her murdered father, a philanthropist and community developer, in which she said a church was the last place any person should be murdered.
Khazimla Ntsompo said her father was a good man who did not deserve to die such a horrible death, “let alone in a sacred place like a church”.
Lusanda Stone Ntsompo, 48, was gunned down with the Rev Maxwell Citwa inside the premises of the Christian Mission Church of SA at Kwanontshinga village in Centane.
A third person, Kwanontshinga headman Nkosi Siyabulela Bushenge, was later shot dead at his home that same day.
In Khazimla’s tribute, read by her cousin Bajabulile Ntsompo at the funeral atKumgwebi kulotshazi village in Willowvale on Saturday, the girl said her father was a devout Christian committed to community development.
“Dear Dad, I never expected to lose you at such a young age, church is the last place I would have ever thought you would die or be murdered in.
“Dad, you were a loving and caring man, you did not deserve to die such a brutal death.
“Losing you is a wound that will never heal,” read part of her tribute.
“Such a good man does not deserve to die such a violent and horrible death, let alone inside a church, a place of worship and a symbol of God.
“Have people these days become so monstrous that they do not even respect God and honour other people’s lives, that in these days it is so easy to take another man’s life, kill a father, husband, son, brother and above all God’s servant and community developer.”
The little girl’s mother, Amahle Ntsompo, and grandmother, Nosiphe Ntsompo, sobbed with tears running down their cheeks as the tribute was read.
The late Ntsompo was with Citwa when they were shot in cold blood on May 6 at the churchyard at Kwanontshinga.
The killing is believed to be over a dispute in ownership of the land where the church is built.
Ntsompo’s friend Lungisa Ndinisa, who was building the church hall, told mourners of the ordeal and terror of escaping flying bullets as he and three others ran in different directions.
“It is the mercy of God that all of us did not die there.
“I will never forget that.
“Two men, Lusanda and pastor Citwa, were already shot dead and a third man was injured and played dead to save his life from being finished off.
“We later found ourselves assisting loading the bodies of Citwa and Lusanda into a forensic pathological unit vehicle,” Ndinisa.
Local traditional leader Nkosikazi Nolwazi Mgwebi’s spokesperson, Prince Luke Mhlontlo, said Ntsompo’s murder has left a void that could not be filled.
“Lusanda was a community builder, a philanthropist of note. He assisted on agriculture development and both beef and grain.
“For the needy, he was the first stop.
“He was running an entrepreneurship programme, freely assisting emerging entrepreneurs in our broader areas.
“Lusanda was everything to all of us at Kumgwebi and the entire area of Willowvale.
“The killer had robbed us of a such a rare breed, a man with a golden heart who single-handedly curbed poverty in our community,” Mhlontlo said.
Ntsompo’s elder brother Thabo, said his brother died of a single bullet wound that hit him in the thigh.
“A crucial blood vessel in the inside of the thigh, taking blood to the heart, was punctured, torn and severed by the bullet, hence my brother died,” he said.
Citwa was buried at Scenery Park in East London on Sunday and Nkosi Bushenge will be buried at Kwanontshinga on Friday.
It is the mercy of God that all of us did not die there. I will never forget that