Slain cop ‘a loving unifier who hated strife’
Growing up, she was the peacemaker in the family who steered away from conflict and pledged to look after others by becoming a police officer.
This is how the family of slain policewoman Nomathamsanqa Ivy Mtwesi, 36, remember her before she was murdered by her estranged husband, Mlungisi Tsitsi, and five others.
In an interview with The Herald after Tsitsi and his coaccused were convicted last week of the November 2015 hit murder, her older sister Nobubele Mtwesi, 42, said the family was struggling to come to terms with the killing.
Tsitsi, 37, a former police constable stationed at the Motherwell police station, along with Ndiphe Soqokomashe, 48, Sicelo Mbanga, 31, Thembani Rorwana, 34, Msindisi Bhebhula, 27, and Luyanda Nyumka, 38, were convicted on Tuesday of Ivy’s murder.
Tsitsi and Soqokomashe were convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and murder, while their co-accused were convicted of murder.
Three days before she was shot, Ivy, as she was affectionately called by her family, spoke to Nobubele about an argument she had with Tsitsi about where she should be buried if she were to die.
“[Before they killed Ivy], she told us that [Tsitsi] said she must be buried at his home,” Nobubele said.
She said the couple fought frequently and their arguments were usually centred on Tsitsi’s alleged affair.
“The fights were about his girlfriend – they would fight about his girlfriend.”
According to Nobubele, from a young age her sister would avoid arguments and instead try to bring calm and peace to any situation.
“Sometimes if you are fighting, [Ivy] will just say, ‘guys you know I don’t like fights’. “She was a peacemaker. “Even before she died she told us ‘you know my husband, he likes to fight with me but I am just leaving him alone because I don’t like fights’.
“They had a strained relationship. They were always fighting,” Nobubele said.
“[Ivy] feared [Tsitsi]. She was concerned something like this would happen.”
In the months leading up to her murder, Ivy had moved in with Nobubele and their mother, Nofikile, 79, in a house in NU8 Motherwell.
“She would go back to her house and then the fights would start again,” Nobubele said.
Before her death, Ivy had obtained a protection order against Tsitsi after their fights became physical, she said.
She said a case of pointing a firearm had been opened against Tsitsi with the police.
Ivy had also been admitted to hospital for stress-related headaches due to the strain she was under in her marriage.
Ivy was shot dead outside her sister’s home at about 6am on November 12 2015 after finishing her shift at the Zwide police station.
She died in Nobubele’s arms.
“[Ivy] died here in my hands. Oh my goodness,” Nobubele said, her eyes welling up with tears.
Ivy’s sister-in-law, Lungelwa Mtwesi, 47, of Motherwell, said she and Ivy had been friends for many years before she married Ivy’s older brother.
“She did not like to fight. Working as a police lady, she liked to communicate everything instead,” Lungelwa said.
Prior to the pair splitting up, Lungelwa had stayed with them but the setup was far from perfect.
“They fought too much. [Tsitsi] was very aggressive. [He] was very controlling,” Lungelwa said.
Lungelwa said when the couple went to town or to the shops it often ended in a fight.
“Even when they would go to the shop, Ivy would like to speak to people and say ‘hi’ but [Tsitsi] would get cross with her and they would be fighting,” Lungelwa said.
Even after Ivy’s death, Tsitsi remained controlling and aggressive towards the Mtwesi family over her funeral.
“It is the first time our family took a month to bury someone – it is not right,” she said.
Ivy’s cousin, Thandi Mtwesi, 42, of Motherwell, said the family had been badly affected by the experience – first learning that Ivy had been killed and then the arguments with Tsitsi over her funeral.
Nobubele said: “The problem there was that [Tsitsi] was fighting with us that he wanted to bury his wife and then I said ‘no’, he can’t bury my sister because before he shot her.
“She told me that she mustn’t be buried there by his place – she is supposed to be buried there next to my father because her father loves her too much and her husband doesn’t love her anymore.”
She said her mother, Nofikile, was under great strain. “[My mother] is not okay. “[She] said to me she doesn’t want to go to court because it makes her sick because she doesn’t want to see them anymore,” Nobubele said.
She said the family was happy with the verdict.
“I would like to see them sentenced even maybe [to] triple time. It is difficult to accept what [Tsitsi] did.
“He caused a big amount of damage [to our family] for killing my sister.”
Thandi said: “I want them to rot in jail – what they did to my cousin was unacceptable.”
Ivy is survived by a daughter, 19, and son, 10.
Presentencing proceedings were meant to begin on Thursday but Tsitsi complained he was too ill to continue, prompting judge Irma Schoeman to postpone the matter to October 14.