Only family members had to be allowed to do the body viewing in Highfield as the body was badly mangled in the accident. It was then taken for burial at the cemetery where over 300 people were in attendance. These included Virginia Phiri, Chiedza Msengezi, Keresia Chateuka and Shumirai Nhanhanga.
Benhura’s friends and colleagues in the literary field, Ethel Kabwato and Batsirai Chigama, read two of her unpublished poems, Bury Me Under the Jacaranda and If I Could Fly respectively in honour of her writing passion.
The literary community in Zimbabwe received with shock news of Benhura’s death at a time when she was finalising her new book.
Kabwato, who, together with Benhura, had stories that appeared in the anthologies, Light a Candle and Creatures Great and Small, said she was shocked.
“It’s a big loss. It was too sudden. It’s a great shock and for some of us it’s hard to accept. She was currently working on a number of projects, including a novel. She was actually in the process of printing it out because she wanted me to read it so that I could give her a second opinion,” Kabwato said.
Author David Mungoshi described Elsworth as “a very pleasant and forthright” person who was also a good writer.
“The sad thing about the whole thing is that about a month ago, she wrote to me on Facebook saying she wanted me to be of editorial assistance on what she was working on,” he said.
Writers International Network Zimbabwe founder Beaven Tapureta said he was disturbed by the death and described Benhura as an interesting personality.
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“When I started gathering news for, compiling and editing the Budding Writers Association newsletter some years back, my first interview was with Elsworth at the New Book House. She was such an interesting writer and poet. I think only God can answer our question ‘why?’ at this moment, as the wound in our industry keeps getting deeper,” he said.
Elsworth was a member of the Zimbabwe Women Writers Association and was among writers shortlisted to develop scripts that featured in the 2005 edition of the Short Film Project. Several of her short stories and poems have also been published in local anthologies and online journals.
