HUMOUR CANCELS GRIEF AT TSITSIBALA SERVICE

MANZINI – Memorable sayings by the late NATCOM, William Tsitsibala Dlamini, had almost everyone laughing and enabling close relatives to manage grief yesterday.

This was during a memorial service in honour of the late national commissioner (NATCOM) of police held at Free Evangelical Church in Ngwane Park, Manzini. Relatives and mourners alike could be seen enjoying the moments they had with Dlamini, who will be laid to rest at his home in Mahlangatsha today. Instead of singing funeral songs that make people cry, most of the speakers remembered the funny things or hilarious statements the late NATCOM made, and they found joy in them. Despite the fact that humour is described as a grief trigger, it played its positive part when the late national police commissioner’s ‘oranges and alcohol’ statement was rembered. It left many of the people in attendance in stitches.

During the COVID-19 pandemic which resulted in 1 427 deaths in the country, Dlamini was remembered for his public statement that he went to the market to buy oranges, only to find that they were out of stock. He said he then realised that some people were making alcohol from the oranges. NATCOM criticised this homemade orange flavoured alcohol as it contravened the COVID-19 regulations, which prohibited the sale and consumption of liquor. The way he put it amused the people as he stressed during the public address that “COVID (without referring to regulations) was against such misconduct of turning oranges into alcohol (COVID akakuvumi loko). As he was issuing the warning, a person unfamiliar with his wisecracks could probably think that COVID was a human being.

Again, they were in stitches, this time when ‘phumela eshashalazini’ phrase was explained how it was being used in leadership forums within the security clusters. In a documentary, Commissioner-General of His Majesty’s Correctional Services (HMCS) Phindile Dlamini narrated how NATCOM’s phrase was being used to urge officers to come clean and face prevailing circumstances. Phumela eshashalazi means ‘come to the open’ and ‘don’t avoid head-on confrontations’. The late natcom, who was accorded a State Funeral by His Majesty the King, used this phrase when he called upon certain people who had employed guerrilla tactics to kill police officers during the 2021-2022 civil unrest. Mourners had something to remember about him when he declared publicly that the people who were killing police and burning property throughout the country would be apprehended and brought to book “one by one.”

emphasis

His strong emphasis on ‘one by one’ became funny enough for some of the people who attended the service, to forget a bit about grief and sorrow, joining the rest in laughter and jokes.
Zombodze Dlamini, a relative of the late NATCOM, emerged from the audience to entertain the mourners. He lightened the mood with a slip of the tongue, wherein he said the country has four regions. That was correct, but the embarrassing but funny moment came when he mentioned the names of the four regions. “The Dlaminis are happy to see multitudes coming from the four regions of the country and beyond the borders. We have four regions in this country and these are Lubombo, Shiselweni, Manzini and Mbabane,” he said, triggering an all round laughter. He did not realise that he had made a mistake. Mbabane is not one of the regions of the country, but the capital city. The missing region was Hhohho.
Mbabane is in the Hhohho region.

Isaac Mmemo Magagula, the ex-NATCOM, addressing the mourners in English, sometimes used bombastic words, one of which thrilled the people - lugubrious. “I have never seen William in my long life showing a lugubrious face,” he said and the people reacted laughingly. Assistant Inspector Mduduzi Makhanya who was the master of ceremonies turned a portion of scripture quoted by MTN Eswatini Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Wandile Mtshali into something to laugh about. Mtshali referred to 2nd Corinthians 12:7: “Because of the abundance of the revelations. Therefore, that I might not become too elated, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of satan, to beat me, to keep me from being too elated.”

The late NATCOM was Mtshali’s brother-in-law, as he was married to his sister, Dr Sibongile Mtshali, the former Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Education and Training. The always jovial Makhanya lightened the mood by saying that God does remove certain thorns, pointing out that some of the mourners would find their ‘thorns’ waiting for them at home. His jokes set the whispering game in motion, as some people could be heard referring to wives as the thorns while others felt troublesome thorns were the men. The auditorium, which accommodates about 5 000 people had a fair share of attendance, as many people came to pay earnest respects to the late NATCOM, sharing his vision, leadership style and moments they had with him at personal and professional level.

The Police Gospel Messengers and Male Voice rendered Christian music, particularly praise and worship songs. Since the King accorded him a State funeral, his casket was draped in the country’s flag. A guard of honour was displayed by the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS), HMCS and some members of the Umbutfo Eswatini Defence Force, when the casket carrying the body of Dlamini was taken to the auditorium. They did the same when it was taken back to the hearse from Dups Funeral Home. While the guard of honour, also joined by senior executives from the Eswatini National Fire Emergency Services was display, the police band provided ceremonial support with music. In the documentary, David ‘Cruiser’ Ngcamphalala, a former station commander and ex-Minister of Tinkhundla Administration and Development, said the late NATCOM managed the police organisation with honesty and dignity. Ngcamphalala mentioned that Dlamini loved his family. His family from Mpolonjeni in Mahlangatsha said he loved to be with the people and his gate to his home was always open such that there was no ‘beware of dogs warning’. Wandile Mtshali, the Eswatini MTN CEO, said they knew the late natcom as ‘Wayne’.

Family

On a lighter note, he said his father, the late Johnson, was a police officer and his sister, Sibongile also brought another ‘cop’ to be a part of the family. “We asked her that we were brought up by a police and you are bringing another police to us,” Mtshali said much to the amusement of the mourners. It must be said that Dlamini traditionally wedded Doreen Zwane recently. Musa Zwane, a representative from Doreen’s family, urged their grieving relative to trust in the Lord and remain strong. Hhansense Dlamini said Tsitsibala had joined a customary libutfo (regiment) known as Emsizini, which is a combination of sikhonyane (regiment) and army. He said he had joined a very serious libutfo. Jerome Shiba, a relative, described him as a respectful person whose academic education made him integrate well with the community. Notably, the family had not prepared an obituary and there was no one to read it for the mourners. It is understood that it would be read at his funeral. Bishop Robert Kasaro presented the word of God and his theme was ‘the clock is ticking’. He said the Bible mentioned that it was appointed for men to die once and face judgement.

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