The month of January always brings back traumatic memories for Pinky Mpatlanyane, whose husband Sammy Mpatlanyane was shot and killed by unknown gunmen in a suspected political assassination in 2010.
Mpatlanyane had uncovered the misappropriation of millions linked to a 2009 city-hosted
musical. His courage to expose the rot cost him his life.
Last week, as Minister of Police Senzo Mchunu announced the imminent disbandment of the unit tasked with investigating political killings, Pinky Mpatlanyane, the slain man’s widow, told Sunday World she is struggling to heal.
“This week, like every year, my body reminds me before my mind does. December and January feel like a sickness creeping into my soul.
“My chest tightens, my heart races, and it feels as though the air around me is heavy. It’s a pain that lives inside my body, refusing to leave,” Pinky said this week.
She recounted the night her husband was killed.
An assassin climbed through the balcony of their Stonehenge home, waking up the couple
at gunpoint.
Moments later, Mpatlanyane lay bleeding in their bedroom, the headboard and his chest riddled with bullets.
“I tried to save him,” Pinky said, her voice cracking. “I did everything I could, but my daughter, who was only 17, checked his pulse and told me, ‘Mom, stop. Dad is gone.’
“It broke me. I’ve carried that moment for 15 years, and it will never leave me.”
Her oldest daughter, now in her 30s, is still undergoing therapy to cope.
“She wants nothing to do with Mbombela or this country,” Pinky revealed.
Her daughter visits the family during the festive season, especially since they have moved to a quieter estate where fireworks are banned.
“She still freezes at loud noises. Fireworks bring back memories of the gunshots. They destroyed her childhood and haunt her even now.
“But she’s finally able to visit us here. This estate gives her the peace she couldn’t find before,” she said.
The aftermath of Mpatlanyane’s murder devastated the family. His uncle suffered a heart attack upon learning of his death and died two months later.
Within a year, both Pinky’s mother and grandfather, who adored their son-in-law, succumbed to stress-related illnesses.
“Sammy’s mother has lived on blood pressure medication ever since,” Pinky said. “Doctors still marvel at how she’s held on. But honestly, we’re all holding on by a thread.”
Adding to Pinky’s pain, she was demoted from her position as a protocol officer in the Mpumalanga office of the premier to an HIV officer role years after her husband’s death. She believes this was an attempt to force her resignation.
“An assassin killed my husband, and the mistreatment I was subjected to at work felt like an attempt to kill my spirit,” she said.
“They wanted me to collapse and die, but I couldn’t. I had to stay strong for my children.”
The family was not spared humiliation during Mpatla¬nyane’s funeral. After being denied burial space at the MediClinic Cemetery, his burial was moved to Rocky’s Drift. Upon arrival, mourners were shocked to find a man filling up the grave with an excavator before the ceremony began.
When confronted, he claimed he was following orders from “higher-ups.”.
But the angry crowd quickly surrounded him, forcing him to abandon the task and flee before they took justice into their own hands.
“That incident still haunts me,” Pinky said. “I’ve hesitated to erect a tombstone because I fear his body might not even be there.
“They were so determined to claim his soul. I live with the fear that they could have taken his body to feed it to the laughing crocodiles that were infamous for making whistleblowers disappear.”
As the January 20 deadline for the task team’s disbandment approaches, Pinky expressed anger at minister Mchunu’s decision.
“Minister Mchunu, you have spat on the memory of the departed,” she said. “You have no regard for us, their families, who suffer the deepest pain every single day.
“My husband was killed with a police firearm, and the state has never explained itself. You owed us at least the decency of hearing our voices before you shut the door on justice.”
“Sammy would want his comrades to stay true to the ANC’s ideals,” she said. “But as for me, I will carry this pain forever. No disbandment, no speech, no anniversary can bring back what was stolen from us.”
