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The issue of the treatment of family, especially women and children, after the death of their breadwinners has been a cause for concern for a long time now.
It is quite worrying that the fissures that breed the misery for the survivors start manifesting as haggling over dead bodies.
All because some people’s wishes were not considered or respected in the processes, leading up to burial or disputes over unpaid bride price spiral out of control, we have seen the survivors face serious challenges as key family members try to assert their authority post-burial.
It is quite worrying that even in respected and powerful families, funerals and post funeral processes have never been known to be smooth.
It is thus very important for families to ensure that they have wills in place so that the surviving spouse and children do not have to be at the mercy of marauding relatives whose key objective would be to strip them of their wealth, or the little that their breadwinner would have bequeathed them.
Elsewhere in this edition we carry a moving article in which two minors from Tshabalala in Bulawayo were left squatting outside their parents’ house following the death of their father recently. It is reported that the mother passed away a few years ago. Instead of taking care of the children, relatives, we are told, sold household property, locked the house and left the children stranded. It then fell upon residents to look after the primary schoolchildren while they sought assistance. Where is our humanity? And how do we even expect our vain Rest In Peace, over the bodies of the people whose children we immediately turn our backs on, to ring?
We applaud the community of Tshabalala for taking care of the children and wish them the best in their endeavour to locate the grandmother of the two children. In our view, this is plain child abuse and those that displaced the children should be held accountable at law.
As if that is not enough, still in this edition we report on drama at a funeral in Magwegwe where all hell broke loose after the death of a woman who apparently was staying with her boyfriend in South Africa, and with whom they had a child.
A dispute over non-payment of bride price seems to have scuttled all burial plans and led to a walkout by the boyfriend’s family, that had brought the body all the way from South Africa.
What worries us is that the child, as in the earlier case, is the victim again in this case. The man’s family reportedly whisked the child away from the woman’s family and we understand it is now a police case since it is not known where the child was taken to.
Is this the new normal? We believe we can do better as a people, respect both the dead and the living, uphold our values of looking after our children in an environment that is exemplary. Our children deserve better.
Online Reporter