KABHEKINKHOSI – We demand justice!
Those words, heavy with grief and sorrow, cut through the light cold early morning air at KaBhekinkhosi, under Luve where mourners had gathered to bid farewell to Silindile Dlamini.
It was just after dawn around 5am, at a moment when her siblings were invited to pay their last respects, which the deceased’s siblings unmistakably called for justice to be served for the death of their sister.
Speaking on behalf of the seven siblings, her brother who did not identify himself stood before the gathering to both speak on behalf of Silindile’s siblings and also read her obituary.
He succinctly made it clear that as a family, they could not accept a situation in which their sister’s life was taken so violently, only for those responsible to remain silent and free.
“Angeke umntfwana wakitsi ahudvulwe ngenhlavu bese kubanendvodza lekhululekile nje,” he said, a statement that drew murmurs from mourners. In simple translation, he was making a call to the effect that whoever was responsible for their sister’s death be arrested and face the full wrath of the law, rather than walk freely as though nothing had happened.
His words captured the simmering anger beneath the grief, a pain that, as he described it, he said it ran “as deep as the ocean”. He went on to read Silindile’s obituary, but even that solemn duty could not mask the anguish of a family grappling with a sudden and violent loss.
Silindile was killed last week after sustaining a gunshot wound to the head during a joint operation involving the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) and the Umbutfo Eswatini Defence Force (UEDF). At the time of her death, she was a passenger in a Honda Fit sedan.
Her death has since sent shockwaves through communities, drawing widespread attention and raising difficult questions on whether justice would be served and the killer brought to answer for their actions.
The funeral itself unfolded under a thick cloud of sorrow, shaped as much by tradition as by tragedy.
In the early hours of the morning, at around 4am, Silindile’s body was moved from a small tent that served as temporary shelter to a large tent, which were attached to each other.
The tents were erected at the community’s sports ground, an arrangement which followed long-standing cultural beliefs in Eswatini, which hold that individuals who die violently, whether through accidents, shootings or stabbings should not be brought into the family yard.
Before the formal service began, friends and relatives were given an opportunity to view the body and bid their final farewells. Some mourners wept quietly, while others broke down completely, unable to contain their grief.
More than a thousand people from different parts of the country attended the funeral, a reflection of how deeply Silindile’s story had resonated beyond her immediate community.
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