BULAWAYO – A mother and her two daughters allegedly murdered in the United Kingdom were laid to rest in Bulawayo on Tuesday.
Hundreds of mourners filled a church in Lobengula suburb for a funeral service attended by Bulawayo mayor David Coltart and provincial affairs minister Judith Ncube.
Three white coffins containing the bodies of Nothabo Zandile Tshuma, 42, and her daughters Natalie, 15, and Nala, 5, were placed at the front of the hall, flanked by photographs of the trio smiling. There was no body viewing.
An inquest into their deaths found that all three died from blunt force trauma to the head.
Addressing mourners, Ncube said: “Marriage is supposed to be a little heaven on earth, but many homes have become places of fear and suffering.”
Police in Bedford have charged Nothabo’s widower, Ndodana Mkhanyisi Tshuma, 45, with three counts of murder. He was arrested in Johannesburg, South Africa, on July 11 following an international manhunt after he allegedly fled the UK.
He is expected to appear in court on August 28 for an extradition hearing.
Coltart described the deaths as “a tragedy beyond human comprehension,” saying such moments force people to confront the limits of human understanding.
“If we look at God’s creation and think of the stars, I often wonder, ‘What is beyond the stars?’ Our minds are simply too small to comprehend the enormity of God, and it is from that understanding that we have to approach tragedies like this,” Coltart said.
Family representative Theophilous Khumalo described Nothabo as a devoted mother, accomplished professional and a woman of deep Christian faith who dedicated her life to raising her daughters.
A relative, Leon Khumalo, said Nothabo — who had built a life in the UK over many years — was “the family’s pride and joy.”
“She was the glue of our family and was dearly loved by many,” he said, adding that the loss had taken “two generations” in one gruesome incident.
Representing the Tshuma family, Talent Mkandla urged mourners to seek comfort in God, saying only faith could sustain both families through their grief.
The burial at Luveve Cemetery brought to an end weeks of mourning after the bodies were repatriated from the UK, nearly a month after they were discovered at their home in Great Denham, near Bedford, on July 6.
