VICTOR’S FATHER’S VICTORY SHORTLIVED

MBABANE – His soul will not rest in peace anytime soon. This is the best phrase to describe the obtaining situation in the fight over burial rights between the mother and the father of the late former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Sports Council Victor Shabangu.

Yesterday, immediately after High Court Judge John Magagula had ordered that Victor’s body should be buried at Moneni, his mother, Joyce Nsibandze filed an appeal hardly 20 minutes after the ruling. 

Judge Magagula had ruled that Victor should be buried at Moneni where his ancestors were also interred.
The filing of the appeal automatically stays the execution of the High Court judgment.  This means that Victor would not be buried until the finalisation of the appeal filed by his mother.

The judge made this ruling after having heard submissions made by the lawyers representing the parties in the matter

Embroiled

Victor’s mother and his father, Pitoli Shabangu are currently embroiled in a legal battle over his corpse.  Pitoli wants Victor to be buried at Moneni while Joyce is adamant that he should be laid to rest at Moneni.

In her appeal, Joyce contended that Judge Magagula erred in finding that Victor should be buried at Moneni because his ancestors were buried there. “The court also erred in rejecting my contention that the death wish of the deceased was that he should be buried in his homestead at Ngculwini,” reads part of Joyce’s notice of appeal.

She also submitted that Judge Magagula erred in finding that in the absence of a Will, oral evidence cannot assist the court in coming to a just decision and that the dispute could never be resolved.

Joyce averred that the judge further erred in rejecting her contention that in terms of Swazi Law and Custom, where spouses had lived separately before the demise of the deceased and in the absence of a Will, what was just in the circumstances had to be followed.

“The court erred in rejecting the appellant’s (Joyce) contention in light of a letter from Ngculwini Umphakatsi as well as receipt for inkhomo yekukhonta as proof that the deceased had khontaed and paid allegiance to Ngculwini Umphakatsi as one of its subjects,” averred the appellant (Joyce).

In her initial application Joyce stated that Pitoli had been engaged by the Nsibandze family to respect the wishes of the deceased to be buried at Ngculwini.

Bury

According to Joyce, Pitoli refused to accept them and had unilaterally decided to bury the deceased on his own.  She informed the court that Victor khontaed and built his homestead at Ngculwini under Chief Mgebiseni in the year 2005.
“The deceased, in his lifetime, has made it known to me and all family members that if he were to die, he wanted to be buried at his homestead below his cattle byre,” submitted Joyce.

According to Joyce, Victor also mentioned that he did not want to be buried at his father’s place She highlighted that the first respondent (Pitoli) was Victor’s father and had allegedly decided not to go with the wishes of the deceased  but wanted to bury him at his homestead and had allegedly refused to heed to the advice of the Nsibandze family council.

She claimed the second respondent (Nomvuyo) and Pitoli were not in good terms with Victor during his lifetime, and it was the wish of the deceased that since that was the case, in the event he died, he should be buried at Ngculwini.

Joyce asserted that it was therefore fair in the circumstances of this case that the funeral of the deceased be conducted at his homestead as per his wishes.

“The funeral or burial of a deceased person is very solemn, sensitive, sorrowful and sacred event.  It commands and demands respect from both the friend and foe alike,” she argued.

Settle

She contended that Victor’s corpse could not be used by his father to settle social scores with the Nsibandze family.
According to the applicant (Joyce), the expectation of the community, fairness, reasonable and the dictates of Swazi Law and Custom, stipulates that once a man had built his own homestead, he should be buried there.

She told the court that Pitoli never paid the customary fines for impregnating her nor bought the deceased from the Nsibandze family.
The matter is pending is now pending in the Supreme Court. Joyce is represented by Mxolisi Dlamini while appearing for Pitoli is Thandeka Hlabangani.

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