Pretoria - The wife of murdered top cop Major-General Tirhani Maswanganyi asked her mother to forgive her for any wrongs she may have done her – and two days later she died in a car crash.
Shareen Maswanganyi, 51, was on her way to attend the trial of her husband’s alleged killers in the high court in Pretoria with her sister-in-law and her two daughters. She apparently lost control of her car and crashed into a tree on the R101 on Monday morning.
Her passengers survived the crash.
Shareen’s husband, Joburg cluster commander, was found murdered in a field near Hammanskraal on June 17, 2013, with his hands and feet bound.
This followed a search by a police patrol which found his Isuzu bakkie abandoned next to the R101. A police uniform and identification card were found in the car.
Shareen’s mother, Dinky Dichabe, 72, described her agony after close family members were reluctant to inform her that her daughter had perished in a car accident.
“I never thought I would be sitting here without a daughter today,” Dichabe said.
Interviewed at Maswanganyi’s Hammanskraal home, she said she wished she was the one who had died instead of having to live through the pain of mourning her daughter.
“I wish I could have died in her place as I’m already old, fragile and not of much use.
“My only daughter is dead, but it is God’s will,” Dichabe said.
“It hurts to have lost a daughter but we can console ourselves with the fact that she left us with her children. She will live through them,” Dichabe said.
Shareen had three children.
Dichabe said she was distraught because Maswanganyi was meant to have visited her on Sunday but failed to arrive.
“I spoke to her on Saturday and after her apology she said she would come and see me on Sunday after, church but never made it,” she said.
“The one thing that helped my daughter cope with Tirhani’s death was the fact that she constantly surrounded herself with children.
“She was passionate about teaching. Her pupils helped her deal with her husband’s loss,” she said.
Dichabe said the memorial service would be held at the Sebothoma hall in Temba on Thursday.
The funeral service will be held on Saturday at their home in Hammanskraal and will proceed to Ninapark cemetery where she will be buried.
Pretoria News