He was three years old when his mother — shot execution-style in broad daylight after leaving court — left Zimbabwe to settle in South Africa.
Now the teen must pick up the pieces of a new life in an unfamiliar country. Christine Gumira, 31, was buried in Zimbabwe on Friday. CCTV cameras recorded the apparent hit near the Wynberg magistrate’s court on May 25 in Cape Town.
The plot has taken twists and turns. Gumira, initially thought to be a witness, was at the time facing a murder charge alongside an alleged hitman in Cape Town, Lundi Zweni. They are accused of killing Nandipha Ntlwangweni, 35, in 2018. Police found her body after a backyard shack shoot-out in Browns Farm, Philippi.
She was shot in the face and had another bullet wound. Three empty cartridges and teeth lay beside her. Along with alleged hitman and taxi boss Yanga “Bara” Nyalara, Zweni is accused of killing several people in Khayelitsha.
Nyalara faces 18 murder charges and 13 other charges, including attempted murder, illegal possession of a firearm, ammunition and drugs. The charge sheet alleges he is a “prominent member of a criminal gang which engages in a range of criminal activities, not limited to extortion of informal businesses, in among other areas, Khayelitsha, and commits violent criminal acts aimed at inspiring fear in the owners of these informal businesses”. The crimes date back to 2016.
Zweni and two other suspects are accused of killing eight people and injuring two others in Gugulethu in 2021.
Gumira’s uncle, not named to protect the identity of the teen told TimesLIVE Premium during the funeral at her home village in Mohondoro Ngezi, Zimbabwe, that the family feared for the teen’s life. They had not received news about the murder investigation.
“It’s traumatic for the whole family, Christine left behind a 13-year-old son ... now here in Zimbabwe. He came with the body. As a child he is traumatised, he doesn’t really understand what happened to his mother — or who killed her,” he said .
“We don’t want him to go back to SA, as a family we are worried that the same people ... will come back and kill the son. Christine’s son was going to school in SA, but as a family, we strongly feel that that he should stay in Zimbabwe.
“We have received no progress on the investigation, we only heard that some people were arrested. As a family, we are deeply worried and concerned mainly for Christine’s son’s wellbeing.”
Western Cape police spokesperson Capt Frederick van Wyk said Gumira was due to appear in court for the Ntlwangweni case on the day she died.
“This office can confirm that the person who was murdered in Wynberg was an accused in a Nyanga murder case. On the day in question, she was supposed to attend court on the mentioned murder case,” said Van Wyk.
Zimbabwean media reports suggested she had been threatened if she testified against her co-accused. National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said: “At the time of her death, she was not a witness but an accused person who appeared in a murder matter.”
Three suspects, Mandisi Mofa, Lukhanyo Meme and Vuminkosi Vumani, were arrested in connection with Gumira’s murder.
Meanwhile, Siphelile Charnie of Harare spent the past few days looking at photos of Gumira: “I’m still in disbelief that she is really gone. I’m so heartbroken. I sit and wonder who on earth would someone want to kill such as a wonderful woman who wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
Charnie, who lived with Gumira for several years after she got married said though the couple had divorced, “I still considered her my daughter-in-law, and she respected me the same way as when she was still married to our family.
“She was a wonderful woman. Even though there was no marriage any more we kept in touch with each other, and she would send me pictures of her son. I last heard from her when she sent me pictures of his 13th birthday. She had bought him a laptop and a Play Station.”
“She gave her son so much love. She lived for him ... and I’ve been wondering since I heard the news of her death who is going look after her son the way she did. She was a very good mother.”
