THE wife and three children of a murdered South Africa-based Zimbabwean businessman yesterday boycotted his burial at his rural home in Phumula, Tsholotsho, Matabeleland North.
Bheki Ndlovu (44) was killed in the neighbouring country by a lone gunman on December 14 in a suspected hit.
His wife Mrs Nomazwe Ndlovu who the family has partly blamed for his death, did not attend the burial of her husband despite being in the country, together with their three children, one of them above 20 years old.
Many people in the village expressed shock about the way Ndlovu died.
Some of them said his death sounded like a movie script but unfortunately it was a reality that had cost them one of their own.
Bheki’s family said they were now at ease after burying their son despite the controversies around his death.
His eldest uncle Mr Edward Ndlovu said they had hoped that their daughter-in-law would attend her husband’s burial.
“We thought she would come to bury her husband. But she did not come although we didn’t bar her from attending. We don’t know why she took that stance because we are not fighting her. We just wanted to have our son buried in a respectable manner and that is what we have done. Their (Bheki and Nomazwe) children who are minors spent the night at the funeral wake on Sunday at his house in North End. But when she came from South Africa she took them away and they also did not attend their father’s burial,” said Mr Ndlovu.
He said claims that the Ndlovu family was after Bheki’s property were baseless.
“We have our properties. Who in this day and age fights over property?” asked the senior uncle.
His younger brother Mr Simon Ndlovu said it was the family’s hope that Mrs Ndlovu would get back to her senses and apologise to them.
“We want to make it clear that we are not fighting her. But we expect apologies for her behaviour. She has to humble herself before us as our daughter-in-law. We have our properties, we have our houses, we have our cars, if she thinks we want his properties she is just bothering herself. What we just wanted is to bury our child peacefully and as you have seen this is what we have done,” said Mr Ndlovu, the younger uncle.
He said the family had to secure Bheki’s matrimonial home in North End through the services of a security company as they did not know when Mrs Ndlovu would return to her home.
“We hired Safeguard Security to secure the property for three days. If she doesn’t return to the house after three days, we will extend the contract with Safeguard to continue securing the property because we do not want to take it over. We are just awaiting her return,” he said.
Mr Ndlovu said Mrs Ndlovu and her eldest son caused commotion when they arrived from South Africa in a convoy with Bheki’s body.
“Their eldest son who is in his early 20s came first into the house shouting and kicking trying to provoke violence ranting, ‘This is my father’s property!’. But everyone just watched him and didn’t respond to him. I believe he was drunk. We suspect he is taking drugs and a few minutes later he left in a car. After that came her lawyer who asked to speak to the family’s representative and I presented myself and he said she was there to take Nomazwe to safety, who also had just arrived. We just said proceed as Nomazwe was not under any threat,” said Mr Ndlovu.
“The lawyer brought with him five police officers and five bouncers. We don’t know why he brought police officers when there was no incident of violence or anything that warrants them coming to a private residence. However, I knew one of the bouncers called Tkay from Tshabalala suburb.
“When he saw me, he just said ‘Sorry mdala I didn’t know this is your family but I was hired as we speak, I’m on the job and I’m being paid’,” said Mr Ndlovu.
He said the lawyer and bouncers left with Mrs Ndlovu without incident as the family had nothing to fight for.
Mr Ndlovu said the family believed Mrs Ndlovu convinced the couple’s children not to attend their father’s burial.
Some elderly villagers who had attended Bheki’s burial said they had not seen anything of that nature in their lifetime.
Ndlovu’s family have partly blamed his wife Mrs Ndlovu for his death claiming that she issued threatening messages to him a week before he was shot dead.
Social media has been awash with claims that Ndlovu was killed while on his way to Zimbabwe to divorce his wife of 25 years for having an affair with a married UK based man, Jabulani also known as Christopher Tshabalala.
The family is in possession of 66 videos of Mrs Ndlovu with her lover, including sex tapes.
Mrs Ndlovu last week admitted having the side fling but said her hands were clean while accusing her in laws of wanting to grab the couple’s properties.
state media
