HAWAII HORROR
Slain KZN rugby player’s family speak out THE QUESTIONS, RAGE & CRIPPLING GRIEF
THEY spent the morning driving along the coast, stopping at the beach for a bite to eat. Later that day, he dropped his wife and children at home, then said he was going for a drive “to clear my head”. Shortly afterwards, his wife called him and he said he was coming home – and those were the last words he’d ever say to her.
Less than 20 minutes later, Lindani Myeni (29) was dead and now his widow, Lindsay, is struggling to make sense of it all. “How do you talk to someone and 18 minutes later they’re dead?” she says.
The death of the KwaZulu-Natal club rugby player at the hands of police officers in Honolulu, Hawaii, has made headlines around the world.
Another black man shot dead by police – just three days after Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old African American, was killed by a policewoman in Minnesota and six days before cop Derek Chauvin was convicted for causing the death of George Floyd (46) by kneeling on his neck for close to nine minutes last year.
Lindsay (29) doesn’t mince her words. “If Lindani was a white man, he wouldn’t be dead.”
His family have filed a wrongful death suit against the police on the grounds they used force without identifying themselves first.
Edited police bodycam footage watched around the world shows the officers firing at least three shots before they identify themselves.
But the cops claim they did nothing wrong – they responded to a report of a burglary and everything went haywire from there.
Exactly what happened that day isn’t clear. Lindani’s KZN- based aunt, Nonhlanhla, says her nephew had stopped his car after his drive and parked outside a house, according to the report they received. He took off his shoes and went inside.
“He sat down and started to talk erratically,” she tells YOU. “The homeowners called 911 to report a burglary and when the police arrived, they found him outside the premises and ordered him to get to the ground.”
Footage from the scene shows an officer ordering Lindani to get down on the ground before all hell breaks loose.
Lindani charges the officer, knocking him to the ground. A second officer tries to apprehend Lindani, who’s heard screaming “Hey, hey, hey!” throughout the scuffle.
A third officer arrives and tries to use a stun gun to subdue Lindani but it doesn’t work. Then four shots ring out.
Lindani was rushed to hospital where he died of his wounds. Police maintain the officers “fought for their lives” but his family are outraged.
“This isn’t the son we know,” Nonhlanhla says. “The Lindani we raised had so much positivity.”
Lindsay remains convinced her husband’s race played a part in his death. “People always treated him like a weapon because he was strong.”
She still can’t believe he’s gone. “What do I tell my babies when they cry for him?”
THE family who raised Lindani in eSikhawini near Richards Bay are battling to reconcile the image of an aggressive, confused man with the gentle giant they knew.
Growing up, he was an active kid who loved sport and music and insisted on singing at every family event, Nonhlanhla says.
His late mom, Lindeni Nhleko Mchunu, was a teacher at eSikhulangemfundo Higher Primary School in eSikhawini and was also responsible for the school’s Scouts club, which Lindani joined.
He had several passions, but rugby was his big love. He started playing as a youngster in Empangeni where he grew up and then as a student at the George Campbell School of Technology in Durban before moving to the Jaguars Rugby Club where he played flank.
Lindani was talented, says childhood friend Njabulo Dludla, who’d played with him at Empangeni Rugby Football Club. “We were close.”
When Lindani fell for Lindsay, Njabulo was one of the first people he told. The couple met at a hotel where the Jaguars were staying on tour. Lindsay Anderson, an American, was doing ministry work in South Africa at the time and Lindani was totally smitten.
“He was going crazy for her,” Njabulo recalls. “He saw her as his wife before he even proposed. They were inseparable.”
The couple wed in 2016 after a brief romance and planned to live in America for a few years before returning to settle in SA. They moved to the US towards the end of 2017 but were back in South Africa shortly after.
“Lindani and his wife paid me a visit,” Nonhlanhla tells us. “When I came back from work, they’d fixed my shoe stand. It’s still standing strong.”
In 2018 the couple moved back to America. They relocated to Hawaii in February this year, choosing the quiet neighbourhood of Nuuana in Honolulu to raise their one-year-old son and fivemonth-old daughter. Lindani worked as a handyman while Lindsay is an estate agent.
Nonhlanhla, who became Lindani’s second mother after Lindeni passed away in 2017, kept in regular contact with her nephew.
The last conversation they had was a video call on 6 April, eight days before he was killed. “It was like any other conversation. When I checked in, he shared that the kids were growing, and they were all fine,” she says.
Lindani and Lindsay had planned to travel to SA in May so his family could get to know the children.
“We were all looking forward to a good time,” Nonhlanhla says. “We couldn’t wait to meet our granddaughter.”
LINDANI’S family are supporting Lindsay as she tries to get justice for her husband. The family are also demanding that Hawaii police hand over all the unedited bodycam footage so they can piece together exactly what happened.
“What made us angrier is the police themselves said he was talking strangely. He sat down but there’s no proof he took anything,” Nonhlanhla says. “Why did they think he was a burglar and not someone who’d maybe lost his mind? The only way to get an answer to our questions is to see all the police footage.”
Honolulu police chief Susan Ballard has come out in full support of the officers. “They were in the fight of their lives and as a result, they did well. They were brave,” she said in a statement.
“I think what we need to remember is it had nothing to do with race. It had to do with behaviour and the fact that this person seriously injured the officers and their lives were in jeopardy.”
Hawaii police are investigating the circumstances surrounding Lindani’s death. Meanwhile, the South African government has offered to repatriate his body while his family have launched a crowdfunding campaign for their legal fees.
Lindsay is devastated. She says it’s precisely because of America’s history of police violence that they decided to move to Hawaii because she felt the island would be a safer place to raise their kids.
“[Lindani] has my heart,” she wrote in an emotional Facebook tribute. “I’ll never find a perfect love like him. He was indescribable. He’d grown into a nobleman. Righteous but not self-righteous. Loving and wise. He was too good for this broken world.”