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The disputes of the living should never disrespect the dead.
Walking through graveyards, one is struck by the sign of the cross on many graves and the RIP, that stands for rest in peace. However, recent occurrences seem to suggest that some families have no intention of ensuring that their dead rest in peace.
We have had two cases within a month in which families demand cattle before burial of a relative, accusing one member from their in-laws’ family of having murdered their relative. It is our view that there should be better ways of resolving disputes that accord the dead the dignity that they deserve. Granted, in cases where someone is murdered tempers are bound to run high but it is still important for families to observe our good African values. We believe the dead should be buried and the dispute over the killing resolved peacefully. In the past we have had bodies lie in mortuaries even for more than a year as families haggled over the number of cattle demanded by the aggrieved parties.
We feel this is a tradition that we should discourage in our communities. We are not saying in any way that we condone killings, but we feel such disputes can still be resolved without unnecessarily parading a body and using it as a bargaining tool. This is quite traumatic and utter disrespect to the dead hence the intervention by community leaders to try and ensure that the disputes are resolved as quickly as possible.
The recent case of a family in Gokwe that demanded 40 head of cattle after their daughter was allegedly killed by her husband, and in Binga where a man butchered a number of family members, left society shocked at what has become of our humanity.
We applaud the chiefs and other traditional leaders for intervening in such cases and urge them to be pro-active and educate communities on the importance of respecting the dead. There should be consequences for people that do not respect the sanctity of life as well as those that do not respect that the dead deserve to rest in peace. We also note with concern that most of the cases of bodies that lie unburied while payment is awaited are those of women, and urge communities to treat our womenfolk with respect. What we have seen in the past is that eventually the families in dispute come to an agreement but there is no way that one can undo the disrespect that the poor body would have been exposed to. While the principle of making the guilty pay should be upheld, let us not punish even the victims, in this case, the bodies, in our quest for our own version of “justice”.
Online Reporter