Ugly fight for ex-minister’s body delays burial

Politics
CHAOS marred the burial of the late Nkulumane legislator, Thamsanqa Mahlangu in Bulawayo on Saturday as rival MDC-T factions and family members fought for the body of the former Youth and Indigenisation deputy minister.

CHAOS marred the burial of the late Nkulumane legislator, Thamsanqa Mahlangu in Bulawayo on Saturday as rival MDC-T factions and family members fought for the body of the former Youth and Indigenisation deputy minister.

BY STAFF REPORTERS

MDC-T leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, who was reportedly in the city for the burial, was warned against attending because of the chaos.

A hearse carrying Mahlangu’s body had to flee the chaotic scenes, delaying the burial which was meant to start at 9am by four hours.

Mahlangu, who died after a long battle with cancer, was buried at Lady Stanley Cemetery.

Three funeral wakes were held at different venues for the late MP; one at his stepfather’s Nkulumane house, while the other two were held at his paternal family house in Luveve and his grandmother’s house, also in the same suburb. Mahlangu reportedly lived with his paternal family in Luveve before moving to Nkulumane to join his late mother and stepfather.

He joined politics while living in Nkulumane, landing the MDC-T’s youth chairperson’s post and later a seat in Parliament.

MDC-T youths sparked the chaos after they blocked the removal of Mahlangu’s body at his father’s house in Luveve, resulting in clashes with the rival faction from the same suburb.

Some of the youths attacked the Nyaradzo Funeral Services undertaker, resulting in him speeding off with the body.

Some youths could be heard singing denigratory songs against Mahlangu’s paternal family — the Sangos — whom they accused of wanting to reap where they did not sow.

Veteran journalist Methuseli Moyo who witnessed the ugly scenes described the fight as a “sad spectacle.”

“I was at a place known as ‘L Street’ in Luveve, about 200m from the house where mourners were gathered, when I saw people suddenly stampeding, and the hearse emerged from the melee flashing hazard lights at take-off speed,” he wrote on Facebook.

“It slowed down when it had moved off the ‘war zone’. Several other vehicles also took off following the Nyaradzo Funeral Services hearse, towards the main Luveve Road.

“A woman clad in all-black, the only passenger in the hearse, who I believed was Mahlangu’s widow, shouted ‘they want to break the coffin’ as the hearse made its way past where I was.

“The hearse sped towards the city centre, with other vehicles in tow.”

On Friday evening, the youths reportedly also blocked the body from being taken from Nkulumane to Luveve, where Mahlangu was expected to lie in state for the night.

Former Silobela MDC MP, Arnold Sululu further exposed the party’s internal fights when he openly blasted the national executive for boycotting the burial.

“Where are our national leaders, where is our president? Yes, the family had its problems but today we showed the whole nation that we are more than divided,” Sululu told mourners.

“How can we as a party try to intervene in family disputes? It worsened everything.”

“As a party, we must shun factionalism, this is one thing that Mahlangu told me on his deathbed, I can tell you that today he is not happy because of all this chaos.”

Former MDC-T organising secretary, Nelson Chamisa, party chief whip, Innocent Gonese and Mkoba legislator Amos Chibaya attended the burial.

Mahlangu died on Monday after a long battle with cancer.