Cape Town - Constable Siyabulela Xayimpi, 26, of Mandalay in Mitchells Plain, had been married for just two months when unknown assailants robbed him of his service pistol outside a local tavern and killed him last month.
Yesterday his distraught family, close friends, community members and colleagues bid him a sad farewell at his funeral at the Goodwood Apostolic Faith Mission church.
Acting Western Cape Police Commissioner Thembisile Patekile attended the service, there was a police guard of honour and a police bugler performed The Last Post.
Patekile said Xayimpi’s death had left a wound. “All of us are now in this pain. We must resist fear being instilled in society by these criminals… I don’t think they sleep at night, because their conscience is eating them from the inside. He (Xayimpi) was committed to protecting and serving to the very end.”
The police would continue to support the family. He also encouraged Xayimpi’s colleagues: “Men and women in blue, let us soldier on.”
Xayimpi’s uncle, former national director of public prosecutions Bulelani Ncguca, explained that the family had its roots in the Mathola Mountains which had a deep heritage of resistance to oppression. He noted that “the constitution gives the power to protect all of us to the police and we can’t allow our country to be taken over by criminals”.
“If we love this man we must make a commitment to say ‘never again’. The only way to fight crime is to arrest, prosecute and convict these criminals, who must go to jail,” Ncguca said.
Captain Lincoln Sebola, commander of Eland’s Bay police station where the constable was stationed, said he had been an exemplary member of the force and that he “had no disciplinary or criminal actions pending against him.
“He showed concern for all, and he loved his wife, his child, his parents and his family, and today begins a new chapter without him.”
There were also messages from his siblings, a close childhood friend, his parents and other members of the family who celebrated Xayimpi’s life and his exceptional qualities of his character.
The saddest messages were from his widow, Dalene, who held their 6-year-old son, Lukhanyo, close.
“You were born from my heart and that is where you will stay and I thank God for an amazing husband like you. I never thought I would be saying goodbye to you today and I will treasure the many beautiful moments we had together,” the widow said.
Sunday Argus