I Condemn The UK Murder of Wife and Two Children in Strongest Terms

By Collen Makumbirofa

Zimbabwean woman Nothabo Zandile Tshuma and her two daughters, Natalie, 15, and Nala, 5, were allegedly murdered by her husband, Mark Ndodana Mkhanyisi Tshuma.

This is a case of marital problems. It is alleged that the wife was seeking a divorce.

One thing we must realise: marriage is not permanent. It is a Holy contract that can be ended either by death or by divorce.

I think Ndodana should not have killed his wife and his children, if he is indeed the one who killed them.

As men, we must be strong emotionally, to the extent of trying to be unemotional.

We must use deadly force only in self-defence against criminals, not against our beautiful daughters.

“Don’t kill a partner seeking divorce — let her or him go. It will be bad for the children.”

He was supposed to let that wife go if she was seeking divorce.

We do not exactly know what happened on the day in question, when three people were killed. Whether it was him or someone else. According to Roman-Dutch law, he is still a suspect. No court has yet found him guilty, but he is already convicted in the media and in the court of public opinion.

Don’t kill a partner seeking divorce, let her or him go. It will be bad for the children. They will always say, “Dad killed Mom,” or “Mom killed Dad.”

I am angry. Why were the two children and their mother killed? Natalie and Nala did not deserve to die such a violent death.

What Is Known So Far

Bedfordshire Police launched a murder investigation after the bodies of a woman and two children were discovered at a property in Great Denham, Bedfordshire. They were confirmed to be Nothabo Zandile Tshuma, 42, and her daughters Natalie, 15, and Nala, 5.

Ndodana Mkhanyisi Tshuma, also known as Mark, 45, of Bedford, fled the United Kingdom via Heathrow Airport shortly before the bodies were found. He was arrested by South African Police in Johannesburg following an Interpol Red Notice, and appeared in court on a charge of illegal firearm possession. The Crown Prosecution Service has authorised three counts of murder against him, and extradition proceedings to return him to the UK are now underway. He has not been convicted of any offence by a court of law, and remains presumed innocent until proven guilty.

“So watch yourselves in your spirit, and do not be unfaithful… ‘The man who hates and divorces his wife,’ says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘does violence to the one he should protect.’”

Malachi 2:15–16

Let this be a lesson to every man carrying pain from a broken marriage: the exit door is divorce, not death. A wife who wants to leave is not an enemy to be destroyed. She is a soul made in the image of God, and so are the children she carries in her arms.

I condemn, in the strongest terms, whoever is responsible for the deaths of Zandile, Natalie and Nala. May justice be done, and may their memory never be reduced to a headline.